Act Naturally
by Artemis Taichou
Summary: Kakashi is his normal slouchy self and Sakura finally notices.
1. Chapter 1

**AN:** I know, I know. It's been a reaaly long time since I've updated anything, but a lot of personal matters have happened during this year and it's been kinda hard.

If any of you follow _She Had the World_ , I'm so sorry it's taken me so long for the last chapter, but I just couldn't seem to get the right words to write it. I'm still working on it, albeit slowly, but I haven't given up on it. Thanks to all of you who still hold on to the hope that I will finish it, because I will.

Now on to this new story…

It's strictly Kakasaku this time. I always loved the idea and the other stories of Kakashi being in love with Sakura first, so here it is.

As always, excuse any punctuation or grammar errors.

Rated M because Kakasaku.

Act Naturally

" _All I gotta do is act Naturally_ "

—"Act Naturally"

The Beatles

"Crap," Sakura cursed as she raced through the streets. She circumvented an old woman and kept booking it. She was going to be late.

And the reason?—

—A very lazy and whimsical, silver-haired ex-sensei of hers that was going to get an earful when she got a hold of him.

Tsunade had sent her a scroll that morning of wanting Team 7 to assemble in her office for some unknown reason. Sakura, always the poignant one, had gotten ready immediately, assuming that the others had received similar scrolls. She had been halfway out her door, just on time, before remembering her habit of fetching Kakashi before any of these meetings occurred so he wouldn't be late. She hadn't had to do it in a while, seeing as they hadn't been sent on a team mission for months, so naturally it slipped her mind until the last second. Weighing the options between Tsunade's wrath at Kakashi and the rest of them for being an hour late, versus only a few minutes if Sakura dragged him in, one option certainly seemed more appealing than the other.

Hence the running.

She arrived, breathless and vengeful, at Kakashi's front door. Sakura knocked loudly, making sure to convey her crossness through the pounding, only to be met with silence. She tried at the door and found it surprisingly unlocked. Not very shinobi-like of him.

One foot was through the door before she hesitated; she'd never actually been inside his apartment before and entering without invite was rubbing her the wrong way. She shrugged and stepped in completely anyway. If Kakashi didn't want her in there, maybe he shouldn't always be such a slither-outer.

Sakura looked around at a neat and tidy room with few possessions besides a couch and a coffee table. She didn't know much about her ex-sensei's lifestyle because frankly he wasn't around much, and when he was, he was always very skittish about personal questions. A small hallway led to a door that she assumed was his bedroom.

An odd, strangled sound emitted from behind the door, drawing Sakura's attention away from speculation on Kakashi's behalf and back towards her task. She marched down the hallway, called Kakashi's name in a frustrated tone and opened the door and…

 _Oooh, holy shit! Get out! Get out now!_

Her mind screamed at her and her legs complied only a nanosecond after. Sakura ran as fast as if Tsunade making her work the STD wing at the hospital again (every time she thought about that horrible day, she shuddered violently). She ran and she ran until she had flown by Kakashi's front door—slamming it closed for good measure as she passed by—, down the staircase and only about roughly a mile away did she dare stop to collect her breath.

Sakura's cheeks substituted as a color sample for red. She could feel them blaze with heat at what she'd just witnessed.

She couldn't believe she'd just—she'd just… seen Kakashi having sex.

Even her thoughts were stuttering and all she could comprehend from the chaos was one expression:

What the fuck?

Sakura had seen it, no doubt about it. Two bodies stacked atop each other, thrusting, moaning, and nakedness—key components that strongly hinted at two people mid-coitus.

Oh, who the hell was she kidding? Of course they were having sex, there was no 'strongly hinting' about it.

Oh, man.

Sakura tried to think on the upside: Maybe Kakashi hadn't seen her?

She snorted at her own optimism. She'd seen him glance her way with a startled expression before Sakura had bolted. The thought that maybe he hadn't recognized her was immediately sinking and drowning before it could surface.

Who the hell else had pink hair?

Sakura pulled at her pink locks in agitation and grumbled out loud with a few swears thrown in the mix. Her ramblings earned her a glare and look of reprimand from the very same old lady she'd almost run into earlier who then hobbled past mumbling about "youth" and "no respect" and "swearing in the middle of the street with a tongue that could rival a sailor's" and "mannish strength, too. Not normal for a young lady" and on and on until she passed out of earshot.

"I had a very bad day!" Sakura shouted after her, defending herself. "And I'm not mannish!"

Great, now she was shouting at an elderly woman in the middle of the street like a demented howler monkey.

Sakura huffed in frustration and went back to the problem at hand.

How was she ever going to look him in the eye again after these events? She'd always picture _those images_ with each eye contact and surely he'd in turn think about what she had seen him doing and it would be a never ending circle of evasion and embarrassment.

Sakura had never actually combined the idea of sex and Kakashi in the same thought process. Of course he had sex; he was a fully grown man, but that had been a hazy, not-even fully-formed thought in the back of her mind, which completely unnerved her and made her squirm in an odd way every time she came close to the subject.

But now those two subjects were combined in her head as securely as conjoined twins.

Sakura supposed her ex-sensei was a handsome man—she'd name herself a fool for trying to deny it. She could attest to that fact because she had actually seen his face. Once. It had not been an accident or by some sneaky trick on her part, but by Kakashi's own violation. It was actually a memory Sakura treasured fondly.

The event had happened on her 18th birthday three years ago. Sakura had been walking the Konoha streets despondently, indulging herself in self-pity. She was alone on her birthday. Ino had been on a mission, promising to take Sakura out for drinks when she got back and Naruto had only remembered to say a quick "happy birthday" because he had run into her on his way to do who knows what and her parents were still angry with her for a reason she didn't like to think about. Anyways, she had been wandering about when her eyesight had gotten in range of a certain jounin-clad chest. Kakashi had smiled his one-eye smile at her and asked her what she'd been doing out alone. Sakura had stood, suspicious; surely it wasn't uncommon for a young woman like her to be out walking on a fine day. She was about to call bullshit and ask him what he wanted, but instead decided to go along with his charade. She'd replied that she'd been out on a walk and surprisingly he'd asked if he could join her. Sakura had stuttered a "yes" and on they'd gone. When they'd been halfway through the sunny park, trying to fill the silence with idle conversation, Kakashi had abruptly turned and said "Oh, by the way, Sakura, happy birthday". She'd turned to say thanks, startled that he'd remembered, only to leave her jaw flapping wide open because, holy shuriken, he had pulled his mask down and was grinning at her with pearly-white teeth! The ass had then waved a quick 'see ya' before turning and going on his merry way, leaving Sakura dumfounded on the sidewalk. Before she could respond to this momentous occasion, he'd vanished.

Sakura supposed that someone thinking his or her face was good enough to be a birthday present called for vanity of Narcissistic proportions. But this was Kakashi's face! Hands down the best present she'd ever received. Man, Naruto and Sasuke (if she ever saw him again) were going to be so jealous!

The times she'd seen Kakashi after that (which weren't often), she'd been planning on mentioning it, but somehow had never gotten to. Sakura felt that if she mentioned it, something would happen—she wasn't sure what, but _something_. She also got a little thrill every time she thought about being one of the few people in this world having witnessed his face and she didn't want to relinquish that. After that event though, she'd affirmed that under her ex-sensei's detached manner was a very kind man. He'd been there when she'd graduated to Jounin, had stood at the gates when she'd come back from her first solo mission as a jounin, and had stood in the background when she'd received her license from her Shishou, making her a full-fledged medical ninja.

So yeah, he cared deeply and was handsome. Two important realizations Sakura had come to know even before he'd stopped being her sensei.

Sakura shook her head and realized she'd been standing there lost in thought for a few minutes. Then… "Oh, shit!" Tsunade! She started running again, Kakashi be damned.

She ran and arrived at the Hokage's office only a little out of breath. She knocked.

"Enter," said the impatient voice of her Shishou.

Crap.

Sakura hurried in and almost tripped when she realized Kakashi, the bastard, was already there, slouching against the nearest wall. She tried not to look his way. Naruto was there, too.

"Sakura, you're late. Even Kakashi is here before you," stated Tsunade, eyes judging.

Ugh, Kakashi! "But I—," Sakura protested then cleared her throat and bowed her head, "Sorry, Shishou."

"Sakura, are you alright?" Kakashi asked with what only she recognized as faux concern. "You look a little flushed."

Shut up! "I'm fine," she answered, not turning lest she punch him in the face.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan, you look a little…excited," Naruto so helpfully intoned.

So not the word she would freaking use.

"Holy hell, I'm fine!" Sakura burst out.

Silence.

"Well… no matter," Tsunade said, eyeing Sakura warily as if she was about to strip and start foaming at the mouth. "I have news—important news. That's why I called you three."

Sakura noticed that Sai and Yamato were absent. Only the original team seven sans one was present. A strange pressure settled on her chest.

Tsunade aimed her amber eyes at the two men in the office before settling on Sakura with a weighing air. "Sasuke's back," she stated.

All other thoughts vacated Sakura's mind.

What.

Sasuke had been gone for years and he finally decided to come back? After Sakura had begged him not to leave and Naruto had pleaded also in turn? He'd finally decided to waltz back in? Sure he'd gone crazy there for a time, and then had mellowed out and decided he wanted to travel, but this was just so sudden. Sakura pondered that maybe the fresh air and sightseeing had done him good.

"No way!" Naruto exclaimed with an elated grin. "Really, Baa-chan? Where is the bastard? Can we go see him?"

Sakura stayed silent and couldn't help glancing at Kakashi to see how he'd taken the news. He was staring at her in the oddest way, almost like Tsunade's appraising gaze, but more intense. He didn't seem as fazed by the news but more concerned with Sakura's reaction. No, not concerned, more _interested_. She looked away, still processing.

No, she didn't love him any more if that's what everyone was so interested in. Well, not _that_ way. Not for a long time now. Sakura wasn't even sure what she'd felt for him before was even love, but with all the stuff he'd pulled, she was sure it would never even come near again. She still cared for him, of course, but she wasn't in love. Now if everyone could stop staring as if she was going to burst into tears and start spouting love sonnets!

The two kept staring.

She threw them a bone. "Huh," was what she said in a nonchalant tone. Analyze that.

Tsunade finally turned her gaze from Sakura to Naruto. She had a faint smile on her lips. "He's in containment. For now, he can only be visited by you three, no one else—well, except for me of course. I expect he'll be released soon."

"No punishment?" Kakashi asked.

"I expect not," Tsunade answered him. "The council is hungry for his bloodline and now that he's come willingly, there's a better chance at rebuilding it."

"Is this classified information, Shishou?" Sakura asked, wanting to know if she could go share with Ino.

Tsunade snorted. "No. The brat came walking in, cool as you please, through the front gates. At least a few dozen people saw. Should be all over the village by now, those gossip-mongers."

"Can we go now, Baa-chan?" Naruto asked, hopping impatiently on his feet.

"If you must," Tsunade imperiously replied, waving her hand at the door as if she tired of them already. Sakura could tell she was amused by the proceedings, though.

Naruto turned on a dime and started for the door. He paused when he realized no one was following him. "Aren't you guys coming?"

Kakashi shoved his hands in his pockets, "In a bit. You go on ahead."

Naruto gave him a look and instead turned to Sakura. "Sakura-chan?"

Sakura crossed her arms. Nonchalance was her. "I've got things to do. I'm pretty busy today. Maybe tomorrow."

Naruto stared at her in disbelief, Kakashi coughed, hiding a laugh, and Tsunade grinned. "Uh, okay, fine then. I'm going." Naruto exited, scratching at his head, no doubt wondering at Sakura's behavior and deciding to leave her to her girly habits.

Sakura cleared her throat again. "Well, I'm off." She gave a salute to Tsunade and exited also. Kakashi followed after a nod to the Hokage.

He sidled up next to her. "So… interesting turn of events, huh?"

Sakura snorted as she descended the stairs towards outside. "Yeah, Sasuke decided to stop being a supermassive asshole. Stop the presses." Sarcasm leeched onto her words.

A burst of laughter escaped Kakashi. One of the rare times Sakura had actually seen him laugh outright, and her being the catalyst no less. "Supermassive asshole?" he questioned, laughter in his voice. Sakura decided she liked the sound.

"Yup, supermassive _hairy_ asshole, if you like that better, " she grinned, pushing out the door to outside and turning to look at him with a grin and squint due to the bright and sunny day.

His silver hair literally reflected. He grinned back under his mask. "Loads better."

Sakura huffed, suddenly annoyed. "I want him to know he's not a priority. I'm not going to go running over there like Naruto because I know the calculating dick probably expects it. He's on my time now."

Kakashi smiled softly at her and reached for a stray pink strand swaying in front of Sakura's eyes and tucked it behind her ear. "Pretty smart there, Sakura-chan."

It slammed into her. She'd forgotten The Incident earlier in the morning.

 _With good reason!_ Her mind protested.

Sakura certainly remembered now. Her eyes went wide as she stared into his. His lone eye widened, too, only less saucer-like like Sakura's. He dropped his hand, albeit slowly, and waited for her to acknowledge it.

No freaking way was she going to acknowledge shit!

Sakura had one of those sudden and absurd notions to burst out laughing as they stared at each other long enough; her in panic and hysteria and him in, well, yeah. Him.

A smile was threating to twitch into existence at the corners of Sakura's lips. "I, uh, have to go, uh, that way," she gestured blindly behind her, "not-not because you're not going that way or because I'm avoiding you for any particular reason! But because I need to go… that way." Smooth as butter.

"That way?" Kakashi asked, nudging his head towards where Sakura had indicated.

"Yeah."

He looked for a minute as if he planned on prolonging her torture by following her, but mercy entered his gaze. "Sure, Sakura, whatever you say. See you later?"

"Sure thing, Kakashi," Sakura called behind her, already a few feet away. Pfft, no way. Sakura was going to avoid until Alzheimer's claimed him.

She left him staring at her back and went hunting for Ino.

...

 **A/N:** Did you guys like it? I hope you did, because it's so much fun writing it (I like the trope where Sakura see's Kakashi doing IT, and henceforth, feelings ensue). I'm not really sure myself of the timeline of the story, but I'll put it in here if it's really important. For now I think it'll follow the manga except for the whole ending part, of course.

So, with what's been going on, I find that it sometimes helps to write and with that realization comes new stories for you guys! :D I've got five new ones including this one: one of them GaaSaku (did I get the ship name correct?), two of them are other Kakasaku, but one of them is a two-shot and the other a one-shot, and the fifth is another Team Seven story although it won't be so heavy on the harem. They're not all finished, but I got a good part of most of them.

Constructive and/or kind reviews are always appreciated ^_^


	2. Castaway

**A/N:** Hello again!

Thanks to everyone who left a review and/or favorited/followed this story. I like seeing your nice messages.

Castaway

" _And now my heart stumbles on things I don't know,_

 _My weakness I feel I must finally show_ "

—"Awake My Soul"

Mumford & Sons

Kakashi liked to pretend that he was a fool towards certain subjects. The practice usually kept people from asking him to do things he'd rather not do. It also kept away bad thoughts that swarmed around his head like angry bees. Selective foolishness, he had to admit, came in very handy.

But even he wasn't dense enough to try to fool himself when the day came that he realized he'd fallen in love with Haruno Sakura.

The realization had been gradual, like most things weren't to him. Usually realizations came to like the snap of two fingers—folks didn't call him one of the best shinobi for nothing, after all.

What a shock when he recognized that anticipation was the feeling he'd felt bubbling in his insides whenever he thought of the next time he'd see her at his doorstep. To look forward to their next mission together just so she could go fetch him, kept him occupied. Sakura had burrowed into his life and habits so inconspicuously that when it'd actually dawned on him, retraction was too late. She was it.

Kakashi was a lonely and isolated person by nature—he got tired of certain aspects about his life repeatedly and often—, but nothing surprised him more than when he grasped how easy it was to be around her. How he stood straighter every time she was in his vicinity. How she made him want to be better.

It had been about two months after her 18th birthday that inkling at an alien feeling had started. Sakura had been receiving her jounin status at the time and he had been standing in the crowd half-hidden behind a pillar with the biggest grin under his mask. She'd looked so excited, smiling from ear to ear, as she stood in line, almost hopping from foot to foot, awaiting her jounin uniform with the rest of the newbies. Sakura had laughed at something the person behind her had said and thrown her head back in merriment and when she'd opened her eyes again, she'd somehow spotted his face in the crowd. At first surprise had encapsulated her face, and then a grin to rival his own had lit her features and damn if it didn't affect him in a way he knew all to well. In his opinion, she'd never looked more beautiful. Then he thought, whoa, had he just thought Sakura as beautiful?

They'd grown apart after he'd stopped being her teacher and then back together again when she was older and they took missions together. He had to admit that when she'd been under his tutelage, he hadn't paid her much attention other than to note that she'd been the one needing the most protection. When Sakura had gone to Tsunade for training, Kakashi had heaved a sigh of relief that maybe he hadn't screwed up past repair, because this girl had talent that he had never even bothered to acknowledge. She'd grown, she'd matured, and she'd learned techniques that were past his capabilities, so that when Kakashi saw her next, she'd seemed ten feet tall in his eyes. He'd never been so fucking proud.

He should have told her that, but all he managed was to be around a little more than usual. Sporadic luncheons together and occasional coincidental meetings on the street would never compensate for his dearth of eloquence.

Another time when her presence had had a profound effect on him was when Sakura had come home from her first solo mission as a jounin. Kakashi unnecessarily worried while she was gone and found himself haunting the front gates almost unconsciously, awaiting her return. One day when he'd actually had business there, she'd come running in, red cheeks flushed from exertion and lips rosy with health. Her hair was disheveled and a cut she hadn't bothered to heal decorated one high cheekbone. Her clothes were a bit worse for wear, too, with a rip at the hem of her shirt and a few frayed edges on her pants. What she wore that day metaphorically clubbed him upside the head. He was used to her regular attire of biker shorts and red vest, but that day she'd worn all black, enhancing the gentle swell of her breasts and curve of her hips and backside. He'd honestly been to ignorant to these latest _developments_ until he'd recognized how his preposterous body reacted to them for some time now, and how they chose to bombard him that day until his defenses were worn.

She'd spotted him and then waved a happy hello before heading to the Hokage tower, oblivious to his train of thought.

That night had been the first of many Kakashi had dreamt of Sakura in a way that had him waking up in the morning hard as a rock and guilt-ridden.

When Sakura received her license as a full medical ninja, he'd already known. She was a full-grown woman unlike any other he'd seen.

Kakashi had spent the night living in denial.

An endless string of random woman did nothing to change the turn of events, because it wasn't just lust.

So, he'd acknowledged love because it was practically sitting on his lap.

To this day he didn't have one fucking clue what to do with it.

Kakashi was too old and dim and she shined as bright and gentle as the light from a million stars. He would taint her. He carried his past burdens as if they were weights, and she'd only be worn by them, too.

So he avoided her and he withdrew.

If she knew, would she be horrified? Would everyone else be disgusted? For certain he knew she would never return his feelings.

Even he couldn't pretend he was that big of a fool.

…

Kakashi kept at a steady pace, strolling down to ANBU headquarters. Sakura still occupied most of his thoughts and he pondered over what had happened that morning. What a surprise when he'd opened his front door earlier and found the familiar face of Miko holding a scroll from the Hokage. He and Miko had had a noncommittal relationship in the past and he guessed that her arriving at his doorstep wasn't a coincidence judging from the sultry stare she aimed in his direction. Kakashi had almost pushed her right back out the door, but she'd been on him before he could act upon it and he'd thought, what the hell? It'd been a while and she was warm and soft and loneliness was a nuisance he couldn't always stave off. He hadn't heard Sakura knocking and he hadn't heard her walking towards his bedroom, so when she'd opened the door, he had received one of the biggest shocks of his life. He remembered her wide green eyes the most. Had she seen his ass? She had almost laughed at him earlier. Had she found the idea of him having sex funny? That didn't bode well. He kicked at a pebble petulantly.

Miko had laughed in what Kakashi thought was a condescending manner after they were done, alerting Kakashi to the fact that she _had_ noticed Sakura's entrance. "Silly girl" is what she'd said to which Kakashi replied that Sakura wasn't silly and maybe she could get out of his bed because according to the scroll she'd brought him he had somewhere to be. Miko had left with her nose in the air and part of her underwear hanging out which Kakashi hadn't bothered to inform her about. Kakashi was troubled. Now Sakura acted as if she didn't want to be in the same village as him, let alone the same room. She couldn't get away from him fast enough.

He supposed that was for the best.

So now Sakura didn't want to be around him…

… And Sasuke was back.

The jackass had the worst timing.

Passing the main entrance of the low brick building, he headed to the level where they held high security prisoners. Kakashi nodded to the stoic guard and he was let through to a set of grey double doors that opened with a beep and finally to a dim corridor with many doors that he bypassed until he stopped in front of the cell reading 101B. A single guard stood on patrol.

Kakashi peered through the iron bars that barded a small window on the door at eyelevel. A darkly clothed figure with jet black hair, sitting with his back facing the door, greeted his sight.

Did Sakura still love him? Judging by her behavior, Kakashi was fair certain she didn't, but Sakura had become good at hiding her feelings.

The guard masked with the face of a bird addressed him. "Would you like to go in, Hatake?"

Not really.

"Yes," he replied.

Bird-face nodded in assertion and said, "You have ten minutes."

The guard inserted a large key and released some sort of complicated chakra technique that opened the door into the medium sized cell. Kakashi stepped inside and was greeted only with silence. The door closed behind him and he heard the guard move down a few doors to give them privacy.

"Fancy seeing you here," Kakashi greeted casually.

Sasuke stood slowly and faced him. Familiar onyx eyes looked at him from a face that hadn't changed much since Kakashi had last seen him. All trace of childhood softness was gone to be replaced by the hard expressions of experiencing an adult life. His hair was also a bit longer and he seemed…calmer.

"Hello, Kakashi," Sasuke replied seriously.

"They have you on tight lockdown for someone who came willingly," Kakashi observed.

Sasuke crossed his arms, showing indignant at his situation and more of the attitude Kakashi used to remember about him. "I already told them that I wouldn't have come willingly if I hadn't been prepared to willingly stay, but they ignored me. I think they just like pushing me around."

Kakashi eyed him. "Why now?" He wanted to know why he'd chosen now to return, after five years of disconnect.

Sasuke understood his question without Kakashi having to elaborate. He exhaled twice before replying with what Kakashi read as pure sincerity. "I was tired and I felt like coming home."

Kakashi knew an apology when he saw one, even if it was dressed up with different wording. He nodded in acknowledgement. "Welcome back."

Sakuke bobbed his head once in what Kakashi read as a thank you.

The ambiance in the room was more at ease.

"Have you heard about what they're planning to do with me?" asked Sasuke, unfolding his arms from their stiff posture.

"Well, I heard the death penalty was an idea they were throwing around," Kakashi lied, but when Sasuke looked slightly alarmed he amended, "but that won't stick. They want your bloodline."

"I guessed as much," Sasuke replied.

"Did Naruto come see you already?" Kakashi asked, wondering why the boisterous blonde wasn't glued to the inside of the cell right now.

Sasuke snorted and answered with a light amusement that was completely new, "Yes and the guard only gave him five minutes because he was being so loud. He hasn't changed much, huh?"

Kakashi shook his head with a small smile.

Sasuke looked out of the room through the small window again, as Kakashi had seen him doing since the start of his visit in the cell. He looked as if he expected another person to walk in anytime now, as if they were waiting just outside the door.

Sasuke seemed to finally give up on a battle with himself and he asked, "Where's Sakura?"

Kakashi was on high alert again but he let not one ounce of it show on his posture which stayed completely unmoved. "She's busy. You're not a priority anymore, Sasuke." If he ever really was.

Sasuke accepted it gracefully, which was also new. Who knew, huh?

"I understand," was all he said.

A knock at the door, "Hatake, times up." The door scraped open.

Kakashi looked to Sasuke one more time and waved once before stepping out into the hall. Sasuke nodded his goodbye, looking solemn as a cat left out in the rain at being left to his lonesome again.

Kakashi exited the same way he had come and left the gloomy structure of the ANBU for the sunny warmth of the day outside.

…

Sakura happened upon Ino as said girl was looking for Sakura.

"Ino-Pig—," Sakura started in excitement.

"I know, I know!" Ino interrupted with glee. "Come on!"

Ino latched onto her arm and dragged her to their favorite café. Sakura grinned.

Ino led them through the inside of the small building and out the back door to the quaint little patio with neatly arranged chairs and tables. She sat them down and ordered two coffees.

Sakura waited until the waitress had left then turned to Ino. "Ino, he's back."

Ino nodded enthusiastically, "Have you gone to go see him yet?"

"Pftt, no," Sakura dismissed.

"Good," Ino replied. "What are they going to do to him?"

"Shishou says nothing—that they want his bloodline." Sakura crossed her arms at the unfairness of life. They could have at least made him dance a jig in front of everyone as a form of apology. Sakura was petty enough to gain satisfaction from that.

Their coffee arrived and Sakura took a grateful gulp. Hmm, not enough in the drink to get her through the day she'd had. She took another gulp.

"Figures," Ino muttered from around the rim of her coffee cup. "So what now?"

Sakura sighed the mother of all sighs and made like putty in her seat. "I don't know. It's going to be weird when I do see him, 'cause I waited so long, but he deserves it, dammit! Why now? I mean, I haven't seen him since I was sixteen. That was five years ago!"

Ino nodded her sympathy and looked at Sakura with a question in her eyes. Sakura looked at Ino similarly, but all she did was roll her eyes.

"You know I don't love him anymore, Ino," Sakura answered the unspoken question. "I'm not even sure if I really did before, 'cause I have nothing to compare it to. He's probably gross now anyway." Sakura changed the subject, not feeling up to discrediting her once-were feelings. Ino indulged her.

"Yeah, he probably has a pot-belly," she grinned.

"And bald patches," Sakura added, feeling peckish.

Ino snorted and coffee came out of her nose which cheered Sakura up more than anything else could.

"Gross, Ino," Sakura breathed through gasps of laughter. Ino started sniggering, too, and after a while of chocked snorts the waitress eyed them cautiously from across the small patio.

After the giggling subsided, they reclined against the chairs and enjoyed the sun. Then Sakura remembered. "Oh, and I saw Kakashi having sex."

Ino sat bolt upright. "Was it hot?" Freaking shameless.

Was it? Hell, she didn't want to think about it that way!

"I… uh," she scratched her head. "Maybe." Vauge enough?

"Forehead, you should have started with that," Ino chastised lightly. "Way more interesting." She giggled again, "Did he see you?"

Sakura wiggled in her chair in despair and said with a sobbing undertone, "Yeeeessss!"

Ino cackled even more, "You have rotten luck. Ha, you suck."

Sakura peered from between her fingers. She couldn't even argue with that. "I do don't I? All in one day, too. I pretended nothing happened and ran away. Ino, I saw his ass."

"Looks like your rotten luck is turning for the better, Forehead." Ino winked.

Sakura agreed. "It was a pretty nice butt, I'll tell you that." All toned and smooth. No, she hadn't looked on purpose!

Ino was suddenly serious. "Sakura, don't worry about Sasuke, alright? I think we both figured out long ago that it's not worth it."

"'kay," Sakura said in a small voice.

"And you're on your own with the Kakashi thing. Good luck," Ino said, abandoning Sakura to that particular part of her fate, "Remember that everyone has sex," she paused, "except maybe you."

Ino never failed to remind Sakura that she was still a virgin, the bitch. It was by choice, of course, because it mattered to her; she wanted the event to be epic—a night she would never forget in a good way. She hadn't met anyone fitting the job description yet although Ino argued no one was willing because her giant forehead always scared off any viable suitors to which Sakura replied that no, it was probably because a giant pig was standing next to her every time a candidate looked her way.

It was all jest, though. Ino understood and knew how Sakura worked, so all Sakura did was roll her eyes at her best friend.

Ino noticed Sakura's less than sunny mood, stood, put money down on the table for both of their beverages, and said, "Come on, I'll treat you to dango," while patting Sakura on the head.

Sakura brightened a tenth. "Really?" She never said no to free food, unless it was given to her by, like, a stranger or something. Free wasn't always good in the Ninja-verse.

Sakura hopped up and followed Ino out of the small restaurant.

…

The next day, Sakura would have rather faced the embarrassment of faking explosive diarrhea instead of coming to work.

"Kin, eat your goddamn food," she ordered.

Sakura was currently in a patient's room and said patient was a regular seeing that he was an ANBU captain and constantly getting himself injured. The ANBU captain in question was a notorious flirt, which was furthered and encouraged from others by his stupid handsome face. Sakura was at the receiving end of many of his attempts at sweet-talking and usually Sakura got a kick out of rejecting and evading his suggestive behavior by talking back, but since she had felt five particular and familiar chakra points enter the hospital five minutes ago, she'd been on edge. One particular dumb little chakra point was making her want to climb the walls. The five chakra points finally reached her and she felt them right behind her back. Sakura ignored them.

Kin gave her a movie-star smile, all sparkling white teeth and charm. "Only if you feed it to me, Sakura, my love."

Sakura shot back at him a saccharine-sweet smile and said, "If you make me feed it to you, Kin, you won't like where I shove it. Now eat."

"Ah, my dear, I knew you liked it rough," Kin answered smoothly, chestnut hair falling in his eyes all artfully-like.

"Eat!" Sakura commanded. She knew the hospital food tasted like shit, but come on!

Kin glanced briefly behind her, before returning his sly gaze to her. He picked up a fork. "Only for you, Sakura, love."

Sakura whirled around and faced the insufferable chakra point and the body it belonged to. "Hey," was how she greeted Uchiha Sasuke after five years. They'd already let the prick out!

He mimicked her. "Hey." Naruto, Kakashi, Sai, and Yamato were standing behind him, eyeing her warily. Sasuke looked ready to run.

Well, he wasn't gross-looking at all, in fact, quite the opposite. It ticked her off even more.

"So," she started, crossing her arms, "you've finally deigned to acknowledge our puny existence, huh? What happened? Ran out of land to expose to your surplus of idiocy?" She noticed Kakashi's shoulders shaking with laughter behind Naruto. That was two days in a row. She was on a roll!

"I—uh, um," Sasuke was lost for words like he never was before and surprisingly looked somewhat guilty. Sakura was shocked to say the least and angry that she couldn't even expect a decent verbal argument from him. "Yes, if it makes you feel better," was what he finished with.

Sakura deflated. Damn. What was with that apology? She jabbed one last insult towards him, "Jeez, you came back spineless."Kakashi finally let slip a burst of laughter.

Sakura looked past their motely group to notice Tsunade approaching, a forced look of pleasantness upon her face.

"Ah, good, you're all here," she said when she reached them. "I've more news. Turns out Sasuke is getting a punishment—," Sakura smiled evilly, ah sweet justice, "—he has to go to therapy twice a week. And here's the best part: you all have to go, too!"

Well, fuck you, too, justice.

"What," Kakashi said without inflection, all trace of mirth gone. Yamato and Sai looked just as horrified.

Tsunade nodded encouragingly, ignoring their distress. "It was a requirement from the council in order to let Sasuke free."

"Then lock him up again," Sai said matter-of-factly. Kakashi nodded beside him.

"Come on, guys, it's not that bad," Naruto tried to be the voice of reason.

"They want you all to go because they want you to grow back as a team and help Sasuke assimilate into society again," Tsunade acted like no one had spoken. "Which reminds me, Sakura, you're officially on vacation for a month. Starting now."

" _What_?" Sakura almost screeched. Talk about adding insult to injury and then rubbing in the salt.

"Calm down, it's paid," Tsunade said as if that would appease her nerves.

"But—but what about my patients?" Sakura moaned, clutching at her face in agitation.

"I'll have Shizune take over," Tsunade said, appointing only the best for Sakura's patients. "Sakura, I don't even remember the last time you took a vacation. You're overdue. Go hike a mountain or something, just do anything else besides be _here_."

"Ah, Hokage-sama," Kin piped up behind her, bemoaning, "don't take my Sakura from me."

Sakura scoffed and turned slightly towards him. "Shizune's hot. You should be so lucky."

Kin acquiesced, "True, but you'll always be my favorite, love."

"I bet you tell that to all the girls," Sakura smirked.

Kin grinned again, mirth lighting up his outrageously attractive eyes. "Yeah, but none of them have a smart mouth on her like you do, sweetheart."

"Shove it, Kin!" Sakura said, although she was secretly amused. She pretended not to hear Naruto's "Or I'll shove it for you" comment and turned back towards Tsunade who had just finished piercing Kin with her stare. It occurred to her that anyone else would be overjoyed to have a paid vacation and that maybe she had a smidgen of workaholic in her, but she pushed that thought aside. " _You_ never take vacations. And I'd rather drink battery acid than go to therapy!"

"I am the Hokage and can do whatever I damn well please," Tsunade oh so helpfully informed. "And battery acid still won't get you out of going to therapy; I'll roll your hospital bed in there myself."

Sakura, frustration still taking a joy-ride on her nerves, turned sharply towards Sasuke again. "Look what you did!" He looked apologetic which was another new thing for him.

Ugh, she couldn't even be mad at him!

"Now that that's settled, all of you can kindly get out of my hospital," Tsunade dismissed them none too kindly.

Sakura, graciously admitting defeat, said, "Don't forget to remind Shizune that Mrs. Tenshi is allergic to Penicillin." Of course this was all in the patients' individual charts, but hey. Naruto started to drag her down the hallway, away from Tsunade. "And that Mr. Rabimaru needs his bandages changed tomorrow and his wound cleaned again! Oh and—"

"Sakura, get the fuck out of my hospital!" Tsunade roared.

"Kin, eat your veggies!" Sakura called out from halfway down the hall.

"Yes, ma'am!" she heard him call back.

A harassed-looking nurse stopped her just at the end of the hall and Tsunade looked about ready to burst.

"Haruno-senpai, Mr. Hedaiki has gotten loose again and he's running around B wing with his pants off again! He's terrorizing the female staff," she cried in despair.

The nurse failed to mention that Mr. Hedaiki usually only wore pants and nothing underneath.

Usually this act occurred on every odd Wednesday. Mr. Hedaiki and the other hospital staff attributed his behavior to his Alzheimer's, but Sakura knew better—she saw the wicked grin when he was harassing the females by jiggling around enthusiastically. Sakura also knew that Tsunade knew and everyone else knew that she was the only one who could get him back into his pants and into his room again without having to chase him around.

Tsunade smiled a sweet smile at Sakura. "Sakura?"

Sakura picked at her nails and said casually, "Gosh, I'd love to, but my vacation started. Right now."

The sweet smile disappeared. "Brat."

"I think I'll go hike that mountain now, Shishou," she said brightly. "Bye!" Sakura ran away now, followed by the five men.

"Haruno-senpai!" wailed the poor nurse as she exited.

Sakura ran down the stairs and stopped in the locker room to drop off her white lab coat and wash her hands while the others waited.

The group rode the elevator the rest of the way down and just as they were reaching the second floor, Sakura sighed and punched the button for the doors to open.

"What are you—," Naruto started.

"Just wait here," Sakura interrupted.

Turned out he didn't have to wait because right when the elevator doors dinged open they were all greeted to the sight of Mr. Hedaiki's bare ass.

Sakura thought there should be some kind of medal for handling crap situations like these two days in a row.

"Haruno!" cried the relieved voice of Tokinae, a kind nurse who Sakura frequently ate lunch with. Red splotches adorned her cheeks leading to the look of one being completely harassed.

Mr. Hedaiki wiggled his hips again and Tokine's lips pursed into one thin white line.

"Pretty girl—," Mr. Hedaiki started in a sing-song voice.

Sakura drew breath into her lungs. " _Mr. Hedaiki_ ," Sakura cut him off, packing as much sternness into her voice as was possible.

Mr. Hedaiki froze. He turned his torso round and thankfully not his bottom half, to side-eye Sakura. "It's you, small pink haired girl. You always ruin the fun."

Sakura retained her stern poker face. "Funny, Mr. Hedaiki, how you remember me, but not to _not_ take off your pants in a public place."

"S'none of your business," Mr. Hedaiki mumbled.

"Except it is, Mr. Hedaiki," Sakura said. "Put your pants back on."

"No." Plain and simple. Mr. Hedaiki pouted, deep age lines surrounding his mouth more pronounced with the gesture.

"If you don't put your pants back on, you will be in big trouble."

"Oh, yeah?" Mr. Hedaiki challenged. "What you going to do about it, hm?"

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, preparing to use the line that always worked with him. "I will tell you mother." No matter that his mother had passed twenty years earlier, he didn't remember that part.

Mr. Hedaiki's eyes widened with apprehension. "You wouldn't."

"Oh, I would, Mr. Hedaiki, have no doubt about that. In fact I can go over there right now…," Sakura made as if to turn and leave.

"Okay, okay!" Mr. Hedaiki cried, moving to gather his pants from the floor and tuning while doing so, so they were rewarded with a full-frontal view of his front side.

There was complete silence behind her.

Sakura didn't even bat an eye, having been desensitized to a patient's nudity for many years now…especially Mr. Hedaiki's.

Sakura waited until Mr. Hedaiki pulled his pants back on, all the while grumbling about how he wasn't allowed to do anything and something about a grouchy pink-haired girl, and then told him to go back to his room.

"Yeah, yeah," Mr. Hedaiki muttered sullenly, slouching back to his room.

Tokinae approached Sakura, while eyeing Mr. Hedaiki and making sure he actually entered his room before turning towards her with a smile. "Thank you so much, Sakura. You know, I tried to feed him the same line, but he just doesn't listen to me like he does you. You must have a more motherly ambience about you." Tokinae's eyes widened, seeming to realize what she just said. "Not that you look old or anything, Sakura! I just meant…I'm just going to shut up now." Tokinae clicked her teeth shut and looked down.

Sakura blinked. She breathed. "I'm gonna go now."

Tokinae nodded hastily. "Okay, have a nice night and thanks again. See you tomorrow." She waved cheerily at Sakura and the men behind her.

Oh, she wasn't going to like this. "I'm on vacation for a month."

The smile disappeared and her hand froze mid-wave. "You can't be serious, I can't do this for a month, Sakura."

Sakura shrugged. "Hokage's orders." Poor Tokinae, but it couldn't be helped so Sakura raised her hand and punched the first floor button, urging the doors to close on a distressed Tokinae.

"Don't leave me!" Tokinae wailed before the doors closed completely.

Sakura folded her arms and glared at a spot on the wall of the small squared elevator.

There was silence until Yamato spoke up. "That was eventful."

Sakura nodded, unperturbed, "It usually is there. Where are we going by the way?" Sakura asked as they made their way out of the elevator and towards the exit of the hospital.

The night was a balmy seventy degrees and the chirping of crickets greeted them as they exited, a clear night sky filled with stars serving as a secondary illumination to the shop venders artificial lights.

Naruto smiled warmly, "Ichiraku!"

Sakura couldn't help but return his smile. It was infectious. She ignored Sasuke, though, still being sorta peeved at him. Like _therapy_? Really?

"Hey, Sakura-chan? Who was that guy anyway?" Naruto asked with a frown.

Sakura assumed he meant Kin. Kakashi turned his head to look curiously at her, too. Sakura side-stepped a pothole in the ground and asked, "Who? Kin? Oh, he's harmless. Well, figuratively speaking, because I once saw him rip a hole through another guy's chest, but yeah." Naruto didn't look satisfied with her answer, so she elucidated. Why did they care anyway? They didn't ask about Mr. Hedaiki and he was way more interesting. "He's an ANBU captain and we've been on a few missions together, not to mention he's always a patient of mine because he's constantly getting injured. He's saved my life a few times and I've saved his a few times." She thought about the therapy thing again. "I can't believe we have to go to therapy."

"It won't be that bad, Sakura," Naruto said, trying to reassure her. "This will help us work better as a team and all that."

Sakura had been staring at him throughout his optimistic assurance with an expression saying could he really be that freaking dense?

"Shut up, Naruto," Sai said, obviously still peeved.

"You shut up!" Naruto responded, instantly getting riled up.

Sakura sighed, already used to breaking up their scuffles. "Cut it out, you two."

They quieted. Sakura's ears perked up at the whispers from passerby that floated towards them and she didn't have to guess their source.

"What happens if we don't show up?" Sakura asked then, still stuck on trying to weasel out of the shrink sessions. Two teenage girls whispered excitedly behind their hands as Sasuke passed.

The cults were reforming.

Sasuke answered her, "Tsunade told me that if any one of us skip any, the whole group will take responsibility and that we don't want to know what she has planned for us if that ever happens. Sorry."

"Would it be that bad?" Kakashi asked. Sakura could see the sneaky gleam in his eye, telling her he was already planning not to go.

"Yes, yes it would, Kakashi. Don't even think of skipping out!" Sakura said forcefully. "One time while she was training me, I was five minutes late—only five!—and she made me work on the S.T.D testing at the hospital for a month. It's not worth it." Five horrified faces stared at her, but they would never know her pain. "Shishou's sadistic and she gets off on it, so don't even go there."

Kakashi sighed. "What a _hairy_ situation."

Sakura bit her lip to stop from laughing, remembering the asshole comment earlier yesterday. She looked at him with a grin for their inside joke and looked away again quickly when the image of what she'd happened upon yesterday strangled her mind with vivid pictures. She could tell she was red. Sasuke looked at them curiously.

Was this her life now?

They finally arrived at Ichiraku's and Sakura scrambled to get a seat between either Sai and Yamato or Yamato and Naruto, but the universe apparently hated her because she ended up sandwiched between Sasuke and Kakashi. She sat stiff as a board with her legs clamped shut and her arms glued to her sides so as not to accidentally touch any of the two men sitting beside her.

Teuchi greeted Sasuke and welcomed him back to the village, not seeming surprised to find him there. Tsunade was right, news traveled fast.

They placed their orders and Sakura tried to stay the coolest of the cool because every so often Kakashi's knee bumped against her own leg which caused her to jolt and then caused her to bump her shoulder into Sasuke's. All in all, a very sucky evening.

Naruto struck up conversation with Yamato and every so often Sai joined in as well, but Sakura's corner of the stand stayed silent. Sasuke made no attempt at small talk (that much hadn't changed) and Sakura kept thinking about Kakashi's ass, so she didn't even want to look at him.

Their food arrived and Sakura took two hasty bites, trying to finish fast. Kakashi's knee bumped up against hers again and she scooted, bumping Sasuke.

Oh, fuck it.

Sakura sprang up off her seat and announced, "I'm going home. I'm tired."

Everyone looked surprised and Naruto said in a disheartened manner, "But we just got here and we were gonna go get drinks after this."

Sakura brushed a hand through her hair and rubbed a hand on her face wearily. She was actually genuinely worn down and drained. "I'm sorry Naruto, but I just did a sixteen hour shift and I'm really tired. Next time okay? I am free for a month after all." She was still angry about that.

Naruto looked startled. "I didn't know you worked that long today, you should have told us! Are you okay getting home?"

Sakura smiled. "Yeah, don't worry about it. I'll see you guys later." She waved at the five and turned to go home, already looking forward to a hot bath.

…

Kakashi watched Sakura's retreating figure with a crease of worry between his brows. She worked too much. Tsunade was right to send her on vacation. The older woman had probably noticed her pupil's distraction and fatigued countenance and Kakashi was angry with himself for not noticing, too. It was hard to notice when he was hardly around, though.

He turned back towards his food and saw Sasuke watching Sakura as well.

His gaze leveled with Kakashi's. "Sakura's changed."

Kakashi shook his head. "Not really. You just never noticed her before."

Sasuke looked back down at his bowls of noodles. "Yeah, I guess," he said contemplatively.

Kakashi didn't like how vague Sasuke worded that. Maybe Kakashi should have been watching Sasuke instead.

…

Sakura sank down into the steaming water with a contented sigh. She rested her head against the lip of the tub and tried to forget everything.

It didn't work.

Instead, she tried to let her mind wander. Sakura conquered her disquiet when she landed on one of her favorite pastimes.

Sakura had a very active imagination and sometimes it was just plain bothersome, but occasionally it was pleasant—like now, for instance.

It was true that Sakura was a virgin, but what she found laughable was how many people mistook that for innocence. She had killed people(mostly out of self-defense, but still), for goodness sake (and she had dated, although not often, and was accustomed to the occasional grope)! Sure, many virgins were innocent and many innocents were virgins, but those two weren't mutually exclusive—not by a long shot. Sakura had read _stuff_ , explicit stuff. She knew how sex worked in intense detail thanks to those cheesy romance novels that contained nothing but sex once the protagonists looked each other in the eye and realized that oh, blossoming rose bushes, they couldn't live one more second of their life's without kissing the sweet nectar that were one another's lips and then deciding that they had to get it on _right then and there_! Those books, plus many television soap operas containing soft-core porn, had educated Sakura on what good sex was supposed to be. She would admit that they were a bit exaggerated, but—and according to Ino, too, who she'd consulted— they were pretty decently portrayed. Sakura wasn't going to be duped on her first time having sex. Whoever she chose, he would do it right, dammit! Not to mention she was a medic, but the more intimate nature of intercourse was not lost to her among all the scientific facts behind sex.

So, taking that into regard, Sakura imagined that she had a man who knew what he was doing. A man that took his time. Sakura imagined that he would start with kissing her softly. He would have on a loose-fitting shirt that exposed his toned stomach and tight pirate pants like Ronaldo wore in one soap opera that she watched. He would remove her clothing slowly, ravishing every part of her skin that he exposed. Muscled arms would wrap her up and slide up her hips, under her shirt, and up, up, up, touching overheated skin. Maybe then those hands would move down, down, down, and she'd tangle her fingers through soft silver hair because it just felt so good. Soft sighs would turn to harsh pants. Maybe he'd bite her shoulder—maybe that would feel good, too. He'd have his mask off of course, so he could use his tongue better—

Sakura spluttered having slipped and sunk under. Water escaped her mouth and nostrils.

 _No._

She sat, ram-rod straight, in horror. Sakura's mind had conjured her imaginary mind-blowing lover into Kakashi. She'd been imagining him touching her, kissing her. No.

Sakura rested her back slowly against the porcelain of her bathtub, shocked. This was new. Ramifications ran through her brain.

Did this really mean anything?

After all, she had seen him having sex just yesterday. Yeah, that was probably it. The images were still too fresh in her mind and her foolish consciousness had replaced Cheesy Romance Lover with her ex-sensei. And she was tired. That was it. Nothing to do with how good he looked unmasked, which she realized he hadn't removed while he was with that other woman. Absolutely nothing to do with the way she had seen him move against her with soft grunts and how the woman had _really_ seemed to enjoy it. How streamlined muscles bunched during each thrust. How erotic a whispered 'fuck' had sounded coming out of his mouth.

"Gah!" Sakura exclaimed, trying to find purchase on her slippery bathtub as she scrambled out. She wrapped a towel around herself and went out into her bedroom to change. She then stuffed herself into her bed, angry at the direction her thoughts had taken her.

She wouldn't think about him, she wouldn't, she wouldn't, she wouldn't!

Sakura lay in bed, brow furrowed and feet kicking restlessly. It didn't matter how tired she was, she couldn't sleep just yet.

Her thoughts changed subjects and landed on the other conundrum that was currently wrestling with the main one: Sasuke.

Sakura had to admit that he seemed… good. Like he'd taken a deep breath and decided to just let things go. A visage that was less burdened and an ambiance about him that didn't always carry around a scowl made him a totally different person. Sakura was elated that her teammate had comeback whole and unbroken and seemingly happy. Though, she did feel awkward being near him still, but she supposed that would wear off overtime once they spent more time together. She hoped.

Ah, whatever. Sakura could always just move away and live a hermit life and that would solve everything. She'd never have to see any of them again even if she and Kakashi's relationship never went back to normal. She yawned sleepily.

That would be a shame, though, she thought drowsily. Kakashi was good company when he was around. He was surprisingly really funny and comfortable to hang with. Sakura realized that she would miss him if her hermit plan ever panned out.

She fell asleep with a frown on her face.

…

Sakura awoke groggily in the morning, face plastered onto her pillow and cheek somewhat damp from some drool that resided on it. Eyes opened blearily and she halfheartedly tried to wipe it off. A glowing clock read that it was only eight in the morning and once remembering that she was on vacation, Sakura grunted rolled around for a minute, and fell back asleep for two more hours.

So, at ten, after dragging herself out of bed and washing up, making herself breakfast, then cleaning up after her said breakfast, Sakura stood, hands on hips looking around because she realized she had absolutely nothing else to do. She thought about going out for a minute then decided against it; she didn't feel up to being around people that day. A silence threatened to suffocate.

Sakura shrugged and decided to spend her day cleaning the hell out of her apartment. Around the time she was scrubbing her bathroom tiles with an old toothbrush Sakura realized, with a jolt, that she hadn't dreamt about Kakashi in any form or manner last night. She smiled smugly to herself. See, she wasn't harboring any mixed feelings for her ex-sensei. It had just been a lapse in sanity that she'd imagined him yesterday instead of some form of a sweaty Ronaldo. Sakura whistled happily to herself while she scrubbed, which abruptly stopped when she recalled that tomorrow, Tuesday, was the first day of therapy. She scrubbed harshly on a stubborn spot of mildew on the floor, blaming it for all her troubles because she had to blame something. Maybe she should blame Kakashi instead for not answering his door like a door is supposed to be answered.

Eight o' clock found Sakura freshly showered (she'd circumvented her bathtub like the plague) and on her couch, catching up on her favorite soap opera. That day's episode was especially riveting, seeing as Ronaldo had just found out that his love interest's father had had a hand in the murder of his mother, which Ronaldo's stepmother had orchestrated in the first place. Said busty love interest by the name of Camilla had been in shock at the fury Ronaldo had been in when he'd declared that they could never be together now and that now, he would go away and sail the lonely seas of despair to try to forget her. Unbeknownst to Ronaldo, though, Camilla had just been about to tell him she was with child before he'd stormed out. Camilla had fallen in a graceful heap of artfully shed tears on a chair and that was where the episode had left off.

Sakura sat for a minute, thinking what big babies men were before shuffling off to bed again, fortifying herself for tomorrow's therapy session.

…

 **A/N:** Sakura pulled a Hermione on the patient in this chapter (you know in the fourth book where she threatens Fred and George with telling their mother on them and they get all scared?). I introduced my OC, Kin, in this story too, and he's in another story of mine as well.

Anyway, I hoped you liked it.

Don't be afraid to leave a review.

Constructive and/or nice reviews are always appreciated ^_^


	3. Basket Case

**A/N:** Chapter three!

Excuse punctuation errors and grammar errors, etc., etc.

Basket Case

" _Do you have the time,_

 _To listen to me whine,_

 _About nothing and everything,_

 _All at once?_ "

— "Basket Case"

Green Day

Five minutes before two the next day, Sakura was standing in front of a finicky looking brick building squished between two taller ones. Center for Behavioral Health, it read. She sighed and opened the door stepping inside into a pleasantly cool room smelling of fresh paper and stale coffee. She walked up to a pretty receptionist with blonde hair tied up in an elegant bun. "Um, excuse me? I have an appointment with—" she glanced down at the scroll in her hands that had been left at her front door the morning before, "—Doctor Atsuki today."

The receptionist smiled warmly at her. "Ah, yes, Miss Haruno, is it? Your teammates are already inside. It's just down this hallway to the left at door number five."

Sakura thanked her and trudged down the hallway glumly, locating room number five. She'd been surprised when the receptionist had said her teammates were already there. Surely, she didn't mean the perpetually tardy Kakashi, as well?

Sakura opened the door cautiously, preparing to either go in guns blazing or freeze deer-in-the-headlights way. She peeked her head in and found that, indeed, all her teammates were there in various states of either absolute boredom or peevishness, or in Sasuke's case, a little of both. It seemed they rightfully feared Tsunade's wrath.

Naruto noticed her first. He brightened. "Sakura-chan, you came!"

"I didn't have much choice, now did I?" she stated moodily. She smoothed her skirt down nervously. That morning, when she'd been deciding what to wear, Sakura had spotted an old skirt that she hardly ever wore due to her profession and made the decision that dressing up would make her feel better and that if anyone decided to attack the village that day, then fuck it, if such an occasion happened, she might flash some poor bastard a sight of her panties while kicking ass. Worse things had happened.

She'd settled on a black skirt that flared out with white daisies decorating the cloth. The fabric ended under her thighs and a few inches above her knees. A white lacy top, with sleeves stopping at her elbows with a white camisole underneath adorned her top half. Sakura had tied her hair up in a messy bun and put on a pair of black clogs before exiting her apartment. Ino would approve.

"You look nice, Sakura-chan," Naruto complimented with a smile.

"Thank you, Naruto," Sakura said, mood lightening. At least someone had noticed.

"Yes," Sai piped up, "as nice as a hag can look."

"Well, fuck you, too, Sai," Sakura retorted, mood nose-diving again. She noticed Sasuke look sharply at him, tearing his gaze from Sakura, and Sakura realized that Sasuke had spent hardly any time around Sai and didn't know his jerk sense of humor. Sakura sighed her second sigh in what was sure to be the longest list of sighs ever.

"Where's that battery acid when you need it?" Kakashi groused. He had been staring at Sakura since she arrived, unnerving her.

Yamato snorted.

Sakura took a look around the room, ignoring them all. Large windows let bright sunlight into an open room with light blue carpeting and decorate spaced tables littered with knick-knacks. A love-seat was placed in front of a cushy chair, which Kakashi occupied the half of, and patted chairs that looked like they were brought in from another location sat alongside the couch in a loose semi-circle. Naruto, Yamato, Sai, and Sasuke sat among aforementioned chairs. Sakura's mood threatened to sour and curdle when she saw that the only open seat was right next to Kakashi.

She had dreamt about him last night. In vivid detail. Waking up from a vivid dream that gave orgasms about her ex-sensei had her in a crap mood ever since she had woken up.

Instead of going to sit next to Kakashi, which she realized was inevitability, she wandered around the room picking up objects and finally stopping at a box of cards that held inkblots. She flipped through them while talking, trying not to notice Kakashi's gaze still fixed on her form, "So, where's our therapist?"

"I don't know," answered Sasuke, "we were waiting here alone until you came in."

Huh, Sakura huffed internally. Maybe this was one of his psych-analysis, waiting to see if they ripped each other apart if they didn't have the patience and then coming in to examine the debris when things settled down. Or maybe he was just an ass.

Sakura finished with the inkblots and proceeded to pace the room again like a caged tiger.

"Sakura, can you please sit down? You're making me nervous," Naruto whined.

Sakura sighed sigh number three and walked over to Kakashi as if she were walking to the gallows. It was a small seat and Kakashi was taking up more than his fair share. He didn't bother scooting over as she wedged herself between him and the arm rest. His warm, hard thigh, pressed up right against hers. Sakura crossed her legs and started tapping the foot touching the floor.

Sasuke was on the other side of her on a chair. Amazing.

The door opened with a soft _woosh_ bringing everyone's attention to the lanky man opening it. He squinted at them through wire-rimmed glasses and watery eyes. A mop of mousy hair above a slim and pale face completed Sakura's visual observation of him and she realized he only looked a few years older than her.

"Ah," he started nervously, fiddling with his glasses, "hello, sorry to keep you waiting, my name is Dr. Atsuki Mino and I will be your therapist for as long as Hokage-sama sees fit to appoint me to you. You may call me Mino."

It was obvious by the jumpy disposition of this man that he knew who'd exactly he'd been appointed to. Poor bastard.

Nobody spoke for a moment then Naruto introduced himself first because he must have realized no one else was going to do it. Mino went around the room and introduced himself to the remaining occupants by shaking their hands, ending at Sasuke. When finished, Mino went to sit at the large chair in front of them all, shuffling papers around.

Sakura couldn't stop fidgeting. Crossing and uncrossing her legs, she tried to dissuade the point of contact where she touched Kakashi against his muscled thigh. The contact was like an infrared beacon to her senses.

She uncrossed her legs again—knowing it was a moot point because every time she moved, she rubbed against him— when she felt a warm hand on her upper thigh, half on the skirt and half skin-to-skin contact. Sakura's breath stilled halfway out her throat and she looked up to Kakashi.

He wasn't even looking at her. "Stay still," is all he quietly said before slowly removing his hand, thumb dragging across her skin as his hand left.

 _No, keep moving. Maybe he'll touch you again_ , said a cheeky little voice in her head.

Sakura slapped that thought away, horrified with herself, but it only came back again like she was playing racquet ball inside her own head. She remembered that in her dream he'd touched her there only somewhat higher… and with more friction.

Sakura stayed still. She let her right leg press up against his.

"Ehem," Mino cleared his throat, catching everyone's attention, "I understand that Uchiha-san has just returned to the village, and, in addition, to his teammates, so in accordance with that, I was tasked to make sure he is able to fully function on a team so he may be able to take missions again—solo or otherwise. During our time together, I hope to work on team building exercises to enhance your abilities to work as a cohesive unit while also building up individual character in the process." Mino seemed more relaxed now that he had gotten into his Zen mode of Super Therapist.

He should have stayed on guard.

"Did the Hokage give you an estimation of how long these meetings will occur?" asked Sasuke, surprisingly being polite.

Sakura pursed her lips. She supposed it wasn't Mino's fault they'd been assigned therapy. She resolved not to be such a bitch to him.

"No, Uchiha-san," Mino responded, "she only said—am I am quoting here— 'as long as it takes'."

Freaking fantastic.

"Mino-san," asked Sakura, analyzing their therapists potent, "how long have you been in this profession?"

"Only a few months, Haruno-san," he smiled at her, happy that they were initiating conversation themselves, "but I did study at the university for four years before earning my license."

So he was a newbie. Sakura guessed as much.

"So," Mino continued, "since I do not know much about any of you, I was thinking we do an exercise that will help me pin-point your personalities more. It's easy and a little fun, so as to ease you more into these sessions. I know all of you are a bit nervous."

Yeah, or pissed off. You know, same difference.

He was so preaching to the wrong crowd.

Mino picked up the box that held the inkblot cards Sakura had been examining earlier. "All I need you to do is tell me what picture or object most pops out to you on the inkblot slides as I hold them up."

Oh, dear.

Sakura almost burst out laughing at the look on her teammates faces. She looked back to Mino to find him staring at her expectantly, preparing to ask her first.

Oh, Sakura understood now. He thought that just because she was the only girl in the team, spilling out her emotions would come naturally to her. He thought she was going to be the easy one. Preconceptions are a bitch.

Sakura decided to classify him in the category labeled 'Ass'.

"Haruno-san," Mino started, "would you be so kind as to tell me what you see in this inkblot slide?"

"591," Sakura stated, flatly.

"I-uh," Mino's smile faltered, "excuse me?"

"Inkblot number 591, Mino-san, categorized numerically right in the middle of 590 and 592," Sakura said, "You can check if you don't believe me."

He checked the back of the card. "How did you—?" He shook his head. "Miss Haruno, I need you to tell me what you see in the inkblot."

"A crazy ax man murdering puppies."

He looked nonplussed.

"No?" Sakura said, raising her brows. "You don't like that one either? Alright then, try this one. In hopes of you letting me go sooner rather than later, my answer is this: I see two parents watching their child play with a puppy—guts intact—in front of a large house with a white picket fence. I believe if you take a glance at your notes, you will see that that is what a completely sane person sees in the inkblots and I am now eligible for graduation from these sessions," Sakura finished, crossing her arms. She saw Naruto shaking his head in disappointment out of the corner of her eye. Kakashi's mouth twitched into a smile under his mask and Sasuke smirked.

Not for one minute did she believe that he was there just to test their ability to work as a team specifically. He was there to analyze their mental states, more so in Sasuke's case, but there for all of them nonetheless. Sakura was a doctor, too, and even though she did not specialize in this field particularly, she had received training in it to an extent.

"Mino-san," Sakura continued, "if you thought that I would be the easiest person in this group to get to speak about their emotions solely because I am the only female, you were sorely mistaken."

Mino looked a little sweaty, he tugged at his collar. "Forgive me, Haruno-san, I did not mean to offend you. I do, however, require you to participate in these sessions seeing as they are mandatory for all of your team members, including yourself, if you ever are to move on from them."

Sigh number three escaped. "Mino-san, here I am, the wrong tree and your barking up me. Did you not read my file? I am also a doctor, although not the same as you, but, like you, I, too have to analyze the mental state of my patients before sending them back out into the field. I know your methods."

"I-ah, no, I did not know that second detail, Haruno-san," Mino mumbled, looking extremely uncomfortable. Then, surprising Sakura, he bucked up, placed his elbows on his knees and looked her straight in the eyes. "Fine then, forget the inkblots—," he tossed them aside, "—I see that these silly tools won't get me anywhere with any of you, so I'm going to be straight with you: I was assigned your team as a challenge since I am the newest recruit. They are testing me by how well you six end up after I am finished with you. So I'm proposing that if you go along with my plans for these sessions and if I see an actual improvement within your group dynamic, I will have you out of here as soon as possible since I see that this is your primary objective… Well?"

Sakura grinned at him. "Now that's more like it, Mino-san." She looked around at her five teammates who looked back at her in various states of amazement. She made a face at Sai. "I think you'll find them more obliging now that you said that," Sakura said, turning back to Mino.

He looked at her in bewilderment. "You planned this," he stated, not even bothering to make it a question.

Sakura smiled sweetly at him. "I did tell you I was familiar with this field."

Mino looked at her with more appreciation. "Yes, yes you did." He looked back down at his notes. "Well, it looks like I'm going to have to come up with more original techniques to use during our sessions—one's that even you haven't used, Haruno-san. Should be fun."

Sakura started to like him a little more.

Mino asked them all a few more generic questions before setting them free. Sakura gratefully squirmed her way out of the loveseat and as a group, they left the building with the receptionist waving a cheery goodbye with a "see you Thursday!".

Once they were outside, Naruto turned and grinned at her. "Sakura-chan, you're so cool."

Sakura preened. "I didn't think you guys wanted to sit through sessions of solemn 'how do you feel about that?' and agonizingly long critiques about why we ended up the way we did." She shrugged. "This way, Mino knows that we know why we're there and maybe we can get out of there faster."

"Thanks, Sakura," Yamato said.

"No problem," Sakura smiled at the five men and they smiled back. "See? We're already getting along. Should be out of there in no time."

The group started walking again. They decided to go grab lunch and spent a pleasant afternoon with no scuffles during their time together. Sakura asked Naruto about how his Hokage training had been going, since it seemed he had been so busy with it lately. Naruto told her that Tsunade had put it on hold, saying that it could wait a little longer, while he helped Sasuke readjust. She also asked Kakashi, Yamato, and Sai how they were planning missions and they said Tsunade had fixed it so that they only received missions with a maximum duration of two days so they could go to therapy.

Sakura went home that evening happier and feeling more optimistic about her situation. She hadn't even been that awkward around Kakashi (sure, she hadn't exactly made eye contact with him the whole afternoon, but _details_ ), although she still kept feeling his warm hand on her thigh from earlier that day.

At seven o' clock that evening, Sakura heard a knock on her door and opened it to find Ino holding a bag full of chocolate and a bottle of wine big enough to drown a small cat.

"I heard you were on vacation for a month and I have no upcoming missions, so let's have a sleep-over and get drunk!" she said excitedly, pushing past a grinning Sakura. "Oh, and I heard you have to go to therapy. Sucks to be you."

"Don't remind me, Ino. Hand over the stuff." She snatched the bag of chocolate from her grasp and shoved a whole candy bar into her mouth after unwrapping it.

"That's attractive," Ino snorted.

Sakura posed dramatically like she'd seen Camilla do. "I know. Contenders should be lining up outside my door, asking for my hand in marriage."

The rest of the evening was spent drinking wine in pajamas with Ino talking about this and that. She dug out of Sakura things about Sasuke and after about five minutes they'd exhausted the subject so Ino told Sakura about something weird her boyfriend had done while they were having sex the other day. Sakura listened intently, curious.

So about when eight o' clock rolled around Sakura and Ino were already batshit drunk. Ino joined Sakura for the latest installment of her soap opera and the rest of the hour, folks could either hear Sakura shouting at the television about how Ronaldo was being a little bitch or Ino lamenting loudly about "where is _my_ Ronaldo?".

When 10 o' clock came, after an impromptu dance party which consisted of two seriously discombobulated kunoichi's, Ino had passed out first next to Sakura on the floor and Sakura could be located—knocked out after her sixth glass of wine—on the couch with one leg dangling off. Ino snored softly and the empty bottle lay on its side, triumphantly empty.

In the morning, the stupid door rudely woke her up seeing as there was someone knocking on it. She opened her eyes and snarled in displeasure because her freaking head… _ow_. A giant had surely pounded on it—there was no other explanation for the splitting headache she now suffered. Someone was still insisting to be party to her presence if the the knocking on the door was any evidence and Sakura decided the only solution would be to kill everyone ever and be done with it.

She stomped over to her front door and yanked it open angrily, revealing the sunny face of Naruto.

Sakura had a sudden panic attack in her sleep muddled brain. How long had she slept?!

"Oh my god, Naruto, how long was I out? _Did I miss therapy?_ " she screeched. A mental image popped up in her brain of a wickedly grinning Tsunade, rubbing her hands together succinctly like the villains in the old movies.

"What—no! Sakura, calm down, it's only Wednesday," Naruto hastily assured her.

Sakura puffed out a breath of relief and glanced over to the clock mounted on her wall. "What the hell, Naruto! It's only seven-thirty! How are you even up this early?" Her head throbbed in agreement to her statement.

Naruto shrugged, unperturbed, "I like getting up early." He peered at her, observing. "How much did you have to drink last night?"

It was Sakura's inquisition now. She rubbed at the back of her head and coughed lightly. The empty bottle was right at her feet. "Not much," she said, discreetly kicking the bottle out of his eyesight. The lip of the bottle stayed stagnant, however, while the larger, middle section of the bottle rolled all of its circumference in a semicircle and nudged Naruto's feet.

 _Everything hates me_ , Sakura thought sourly.

Naruto looked at Sakura disapprovingly.

Sakura grinned at him. "So what brings you around, Naruto?" She ushered him in and wondered at his visit, which were rare due to his busy schedule.

Ino looked up groggily from the floor and turned towards Naruto with one eyelid still half closed and a candy bar wrapper stuck to her face. "Sakura ate all the chocolate," she groused as a greeting to Naruto.

"The evidence stuck to our face would suggest otherwise, Pig," Sakura responded, although she did remember eating more that she was allotted. She led Naruto over to her kitchen table while Ino pawed half-heartedly at her face.

"I brought breakfast," Naruto said, raising a hand holding a white paper bag that Sakura had not noticed before. "I, uh, didn't bring one for you, Ino. I didn't know you would be here. Sorry."

Ino pouted.

Sakura opened the bag to find a cheese Danish from one of her favorite pastry shops. The crust was always a golden-brown flaky perfection and the creamy cheese topped with sweet crisp apples dusted with cinnamon had her mouthwatering despite the tiny explosions going off on the inside of her skull. They cost a fortune, though.

Sakura smiled genuinely at Naruto. "Thanks. I'll go make coffee."

After she and Naruto were sitting across from each other, each with a steaming mug in their hands, Sakura proffered her earlier question again, "So, what is it, Naruto? Is something wrong?" Naruto usually only came seeking her counsel when there was something really nagging at him.

Naruto shook his head, worrying the edge of his mug with his thumb.

Ino came to sit next to Sakura with her own mug, looking utterly forlorn. Sakura sighed and tore her pastry in half, giving Ino the piece that was not bitten. A great sacrifice in Sakura's opinion.

Ino brightened and took her half. "I knew you were my best friend for a reason."

Sakura looked back to Naruto expectantly.

"Sasuke seems alright, doesn't he?" Naruto asked, still fiddling with his mug.

Ah, so that was the problem.

"He seems great, Naruto! I'm definitely not getting the murder and defect vibes like before." Sakura assured. She wasn't even lying for his benefit. Sasuke really did look happier.

"You don't think he's thinking of leaving again do you?" Naruto said, not reassured. "I mean, with this stuff the council's doing to him, he has it kinda rough right now."

"Wait, what other stuff?—besides the therapy?"

Naruto looked at her in surprise. "Well, they have someone following him at all times and he's not allowed to leave the village at all."

Sakura's look of concern faded. "Oh. Naruto, that's kind of understandable though. They're wary of Sasuke because he's been gone so long. The council will back off eventually."

"But don't you think he'll get tired of it and want to leave again?" Naruto asked, acutely worried. "Sasuke's not very patient."

Sakura contemplated. "No, he isn't. Although, Naruto, he seems genuinely happy to be back. I don't know if you've noticed but Sasuke is trying hard. He wants to be here and I think he feels guilty so he's trying for us. He'll take whatever they throw at him for us, if for nothing else."

Naruto brightened, looking more content. "Thanks, Sakura-chan. You're right! That's why I came to you, you always know what to say."

Sakura smiled. Naruto was one of her closest friends and whenever she made him smile, she was always reminded of how much she loved him—down to her bones. "No problem, Naruto. Don't worry about Sasuke, okay? I promise everything will stay just fine."

They sat until Naruto had finished his coffee, chatting lightly, until he announced that he needed to be off. Leaving Ino, who had fallen asleep again on the table, Sakura walked Naruto out.

"Thanks again, Sakura," Naruto smiled, "I'll see you tomorrow?"

Sakura nodded and Naruto came in for a hug. While he had his arms wrapped around her his voice turned sly. "Hey, Sakura-chan?"

"Hm?"

"You're not wearing a bra are you?"

Sakura immediately wrenched him off her and shoved him hard in his chest. "Ugh, Naruto! You just ruined it! Go away!"

Naruto ran away from her and dashed down the stairs, giggling.

Sakura slammed the door, making note to tell Tsunade that their future Hokage still giggled at boobs.

...

 **A/N:** I got the idea with the part with the inkblot cards from the _Artemis Fowl_ series by Eoin Colfer, I believe it was in the very last book. They're a fun and clever read if any of you are interested or like recommendations on books.

Thanks for reading :D

Constructive and/or nice reviews are always appreciated ^_^


	4. Snap Out of It

**A/N:** Hello!

I'm sorry I suck so much at updating regularly :( But anyway, I hope you guys enjoy.

Snap Out of It

— _"Living well and dressed to kill,_

 _But she looks like hell to me"_

Thursday came around and they were given a small shrub.

"Now," Mino continued, "I will pair you off and hand you a shrub which will be your responsibility for the duration of these sessions. This exercise I designed to teach and educate about the importance of responsibility and cooperation, especially within a group and during group missions."

"A generally self-sustaining organism will help us achieve this?" Sai asked, speculatively. He wasn't being intentionally rude, Sakura knew, only curious.

"Yes, I believe it will, Sai," Mino answered, not unkindly. He must have thoroughly read Sai's file. He looked back down at his notes. "Let's see, Uzumaki-san, you will be paired with Yamato-san, Uchiha-san you will be paired with Sai-san, which leaves—,"

 _Oh my Kami, why?_

"—Hatake-san and Haruno-san as partners."

Sakura slumped in her seat; she'd managed to snag one to the right of Naruto this time around, but even this hadn't seemed to help her situation at all.

Mino handed her the shrub while smiling and Sakura managed a grimace.

"That's all I had for you six today, so you may go if you wish."

They didn't need to be told twice.

Sakura clutched her shrub to her chest and filed out the door. Eager to be gone, because the dreams hadn't stopped and Kakashi was right behind her, so close she could feel his body heat.

…

Kakashi noticed Sakura was on the verge of sprinting when Kakashi caught up to her and grabbed her shoulder to make her pause. Sakura stiffened and turned to regard him with bright green eyes.

They stood in the middle of a sparsely crowded street as Kakashi looked her over for a short moment, noting that the bags under her eyes had gone and she looked well rested if a bit frustrated. He supposed though, that he could attribute that behavior to himself and what she had witnessed a few days prior.

Today she wore simple black pants and a light blue t-shirt. Tuesday's attire had come as an electrifying shock to Kakashi. Sakura was beautiful in any clothing, but Tuesday's had sparked a certain dream where she had been wearing a similar skirt and he had bent her over a table and, well, Kakashi hadn't been prone to uninvited hard-on's since the age of fourteen and he wasn't about to break that streak, no matter what she was wearing. He really hadn't meant to touch her thigh and for so long for that matter, but she'd been moving against him, threatening that streak and he'd had to make her stop.

Kakashi took a deep breath and removed his hand from her shoulder. "So where do you want to do it?"

Sakura's eyes widened and she looked taken aback. "I—what?" she squeaked, cheeks filling with color.

Kakashi looked quizzically at her. "The shrub," he gestured to it, as Sakura clutched it tighter to her chest, "do you want to take it to my place or yours?"

Sakura looked away and laughed breathlessly. "Oh, the shrub, right. I, uh, was thinking that maybe we could trade off and have it for a week each at a time."

"That sounds good," Kakashi answered, wondering if she really was alright. "Do you want it first or…?"

Sakura was abruptly irate. "Yeah," she scoffed, "like I don't have anything better to do than take care of a 'generally self-sustaining organism'. This is ridiculous." She had met his eyes the whole sentence which Kakashi counted as a step forward.

Kakashi half-smiled at her half-hearted tirade. "But you're on vacation."

"That doesn't mean I want to take care of a plant on my off time," she retorted, seemingly wanting to reciprocate his smile with one of her own, but not quite there yet.

Kakashi decided to help her along. He really liked it when she smiled, especially for him.

His smile widened. "So, what did you do on your first day off?"

Sakura pursed her lips and shifted her yes away. "I cleaned my bathroom floor with a toothbrush," she mumbled.

Kakashi pretended as if he hadn't heard her. "What was that?"

"I cleaned my bathroom floor with a toothbrush!" she shouted at him, mirth highlighting her tone as she finally grinned at him. A couple passing by turned and glanced their way at the sound of Sakura's raised voice.

With a full smile now Kakashi responded, "Wow, that sound's even better than occasionally watering a small plant, you were right."

"Oh, whatever," Sakura said looking at the plant somewhat bashfully, "my first argument still stands, though."

"Why don't you name it?"Kakashi offered. "You might feel more attached to it I you do."

"Name it?" Sakura repeated. "Well, I guess." She tapped a finger on her chin, thinking. Kakashi watched her ardently, having not spent this much time with her for what seemed a long time, but couldn't have been more than a few weeks. This felt just like they used to be—casual teasing's and shared friendship.

He wondered if it was odd to miss her when she didn't belong to him in the slightest nor he to her.

Sakura looked back to him. "I can't think of anything."

"How about 'Hairy'?" Kakashi proffered.

"Like with an 'ir' instead of an 'rr'?" Sakura asked with a grin.

Kakashi nodded and was rewarded with a hearty laugh.

"Okay, Hairy it is." She kept on smiling. "I think I'll take Hairy the first week and then I'll bring it over to your place to keep Mr. Ukki company."

"Sounds great."

Sakura waved a cheery goodbye to him and Kakashi watched her walk away, feeling frustrated himself.

…

The most exciting parts of the next three days for Sakura were getting to water Hairy, which led her to somewhat regret the less than kind words she had uttered towards it.

She spent those days mostly alone with the occasional run-in with a familiar face when she had to go to the market. Ino had missions to get to, but seeing as Sakura was on a forced vacation, she wasn't allowed to take even the lowest ranked ones.

Sakura fully recognized how her pathetic her situation was within the first week of vacation and how much time her job actually brought her away from any other activity she might immerse herself in.

The dreams didn't cease. They came at night, vivid and astonishingly tangible, leaving Sakura disoriented when she awoke from them and with a lot of pent-up energy to last the day.

The training grounds were sure seeing a lot of her these days; Sakura found out that her frustration was lessened a margin if she punched things, namely the ground and trees.

She knew she was being silly and that her hormones were out of whack, so she didn't put much credit to them and wrote her feelings off as oddly placed lust. She couldn't have a crush on Kakashi. The very thought was ludicrous in Sakura's mind and had her snorting with the absurd notion every time she thought about it. A crush on Kakashi, how silly.

Wasn't it?

Then she'd think about what she'd seen and get very flustered and although Sakura had never experienced that feeling with a partner she knew what the low fluttering in between her thighs meant and exactly who was causing the feeling. Sakura hadn't seen Kakashi since last Thursday, when everything seemed to be getting back to normal, but if she kept this up, she wouldn't even be able to look at him without blushing. Kakashi would be completely mortified if he knew, which made Sakura thankful that a mind-reading jutsu hadn't been invented yet.

Sakura wasn't exactly dreading seeing Kakashi again for their therapy session, but she knew she couldn't label it as purely excitement either; she was all over the place and she needed to get herself under control.

Tuesday morning Sakura awoke, meditated for thirty minutes, took a shower, dressed in a nice, light green flowy sundress and headed out, telling herself a consistent mantra that today was going to be normal and she wouldn't act weird around Kakashi.

Sakura arrived and entered the same building she had last week, waving to the receptionist and making her way down to the correct room. She paused before the door and drew in a deep breath before going inside.

Sakura found the occupants in much the same position that they had been on the first day…and exactly the same arrangement.

Sakura took another steady breath. _This is okay_ , she told herself. After all, exposure to the issue that was causing anxiety was often the solution…but she didn't think that would help her in this case. Lack of exposure is what was needed.

Naruto and Yamato smiled at her as she entered, Sai merely glanced her way, Sasuke and Kakashi looked to her too but it was Kakashi who looked away first this time around. Sakura walked over and firmly took her seat at Kakashi's side—she didn't fidget or show her restlessness in any way and let her side press against his, solidly.

This was more than okay.

Mino thankfully entered only a moment later, shuffling papers and pushing his glasses as he did so, so they wouldn't fall. He greeted them and made his way to his chair. Once settled he smiled at them expectantly. "So, how are the shrubs?"

"Great," Naruto answered enthusiastically, "We named ours."

"Oh, we did, too," Sakura said, amused.

"What did you name yours?"

"Hairy," answered Sakura with a smile.

Naruto made a face. "What kind of name is 'Harry'?"

"Not 'H-A-R-R-Y', it's 'H-A-I-R-Y'," Sakura supplied, affronted. This was her shrub he was insulting.

"That's even worse."

"Oh yeah?" Sakura asked. "What'd you name yours then?"

Naruto smiled a self-satisfied smile. "Miso."

Sakura turned her head to look at Yamato. "You let him name it?" she asked incredulously.

He only shrugged.

"Hey, I like the name," Naruto defended, and then asked Sasuke, "What'd you name yours?"

Sasuke looked at him as if Naruto had just asked what type his favorite butterfly was. "Why would we name it, it's a plant." Sai looked just as flabbergasted.

Sakura looked to Mino with dawning comprehension. "I suddenly realize why you paired us this way." Although, she wondered if her and Kakashi we the outcome of the two left over or if Mino actually had a reason to pair them this way.

"I thought you might," Mino grinned. He shuffled through his files again and cleared his throat softly. "Now, I know you six are very adverse to the notion of talking about personal matters, but the fact is that in therapy this is unavoidable. I am not asking you to tell your deepest darkest secrets or your most repressed memories, but you have to cooperate with me somehow on this matter."

Sakura swore she heard Sasuke whine under his breath in his seat next to her.

Naruto's whispered 'Aww crap', Yamato's frantic eye-shift to all the possible exits, and Sai's narrowed eyes of suspicion completed the picture of complete abhorrence.

"I really hope that doesn't mean what I think it means," Kakashi muttered sullenly.

Yeah, she did, too.

"I know, I know," Mino supplicated, "But I promise you it won't be that bad and might even make you feel better."

"I didn't feel bad until now," Sasuke muttered.

"I won't start with you Uchiha-san, no worries," Mino reassured. He turned to Kakashi.

Sakura had to give him credit; Kakashi tried his hardest to shrink into himself and into the plushness of the couch. Without thinking, Sakura patted his knee to reassure him and he froze until Mino demanded his attention again. Sakura drew her hand back into her own lap, outwardly showing as if she thought nothing of the gesture but inwardly berating herself.

"How have you been, Hatake-san?" Mino asked in his most soothing voice.

"Peachy," Kakashi said tonelessly.

"That's great," Mino said in an encouraging voice. "Why don't we start with something simple: your mask. Is it a form of coping? Or maybe it is more of an internalized habit considering your past?"

Kakashi blinked at him. "What?"

Sakura was trying very hard not to laugh.

"Mino-san, you're totally not going to get anywhere there if you're trying to get Kakashi-sensei to take his mask off, believe me, we've tried," Naruto supplied. He turned to Kakashi. "Why don't you just take it off, Sensei? Once and for all, so we can all see what you've been hiding, I mean, we have known you for a very long time, I think it's time."

Kakashi blinked at Naruto now then turned back to Mino. Kakashi crossed his left ankle over his right knee and placed a hand on his chin. "Well, Mino-san, I think it's more of a habit, you see, when you're as good looking as I am— "

Sakura covered her mouth to hide her giggle as Naruto groaned and spoke again. "See? There's no getting to him. And Sakura, don't encourage him. We've known you for a very long time, Kakashi-sensei, I'm kind of beginning to think this is kinda personal."

"I'm going to have to agree with Naruto on that one," Sasuke surprisingly concurred.

Yamato also agreed. "Yeah, Senpai, what's with that?"

Then Sai, "Of course." He nodded his head somberly.

Naruto looked expectantly at Sakura. "Sakura-chan?"

Sakura blinked and started. "What?—I, uh, yeah. Rude." She cleared her throat awkwardly and twiddled her thumbs on her lap and then brushed a stray lock of hair behind her ear.

Everyone was looking at her.

Sasuke spoke and the sentence wasn't even a question, merely a statement. "You've seen his face."

Sakura lifted her head, grinning. "Yeah," she breathed, finally being able to gloat after three grueling years. "I won."

Naruto looked absolutely insulted. "What! That's not fair. Why does Sakura get to see your face and we don't?"

Mino scribbled furiously in his notes. "Why indeed?"

Sakura was smiling smugly, but she quickly schooled her expression when she noticed Sasuke narrowing his eyes at her. "You're really enjoying this aren't you?"

Sakura shrugged. "A little." Wrong. She was enjoying this a lot.

Naruto was still trying to convince Kakashi to take off his mask to no avail, when he abruptly turned to Sakura. "Make him show us his face."

Sakura scoffed. "It's not my face. If he wants to show you, he'll show you, right Kakashi?"

"Right."

Sakura nodded as if that was that.

Naruto wouldn't hear of it. "Come oooon!"

"Why did he choose to reveal his face to you?" Sai asked, brow scrunched. "Or was it merely an accidental occurrence?"

"It was a birthday present," Sakura answered. "My eighteenth birthday present, which all of you, by the way, forgot. Except for Kakashi, of course."

This quieted them for one guilty moment and then Naruto spoke again, "You've known what his face looks like for three whole years and you never once mentioned it? Wow, I wouldn't like to see you hold a grudge. Will, you at least tell us what he looks like."

Sakura crossed her arms. "No." Let them be jealous. Whether she admitted it or not, Sakura liked feeling special because Kakashi chose to show her his face and she wasn't quite ready to relinquish that impression yet.

"Ugh, you guys are so mean," Naruto complained.

"Okay, let's simmer down," Mino interjected. He turned back to Kakashi. "Hatake-san, is there anything you would like to say about this situation?"

"About what?" Kakashi asked, looking utterly confused.

Mino sighed. "Another day then. Let's move on." He moved to look at Sakura. "Haruno-san—,"

"Crap," Sakura muttered. Naruto chuckled darkly.

"—you look well rested. It seems this vacation is agreeing with you." Mino smiled at her good-naturedly.

Sakura lifted her arms in the air and let them fall back into her lap in surrender. "A girl doesn't sleep for two days straight and suddenly she looks like a harpie or is "motherly"."

"I see no difference," Sai rudely interjected.

Sakura jaw jutted out to the side as she turned to glare at Sai. "Hey, Sai, you know that thing where you close your mouth and no sound comes out? Yeah, you should do that more often."

Yamato laughed at Sai's expense and Naruto started to, too. "Heh, she told you."

"Are you not mad at her for withholding our Sensei's facial facets?" Sai reminded him.

"Oh, yeah," Naruto said, trying to force back a frown on his face, but failing miserably.

Kakashi chuckled beside her. Sakura felt every movement along her side.

"Alright," Mino interjected, "this is good communication, but maybe we should try to be a bit more…genteel towards each other with our words."

"Did you hear that, Sai?" Sakura said sharply.

"Of course I heard," he answered, "but whether I choose to ignore the advice or heed it stands as another matter entirely."

Sakura wondered what he would do if she just got up and punched him right in the face.

Mino looked between them with rapidly blinking eyes. " _Okay_ , back to the subject at hand, now, shall we? We will, ah, come back to that later." Mino locked his gaze on Sakura again. "Haruno-san, how have things been going lately? Especially with your parents?"

Sakura felt like she was going to choke. How did he know?

She swallowed before answering in a strained voice. "Amazing."

Mino adjusted his glasses while peering at her. "And you would call not talking to your parents for two years "amazing"?"

Sakura gaped at him. "How did you even know that?" She froze. "Shishou told you, didn't she?"

Mino tilted his head to the side then back in a noncommittal gesture. "It seems she thought this was an issue that needed resolving, which I concur with."

"And did she tell you why?" Sakura demanded, peeved. Her teammates really didn't need to know about her domestic issues.

"No, she thought it best that you explained to me the problem."

"Well, I don't." Sakura crossed her arms. She could feel Kakashi's gaze fixed on her face as well as the others.

"Sakura-chan, is everything okay?" Naruto asked forgetting his earlier righteousness and looking at her with concern.

"It's great, Naruto, really," Sakura said, wishing everyone would stop looking at her.

They didn't.

"I really think that you should—," Mino started.

Sakura cut him off, knowing where the sentence was going. "Will you believe me if I tell you that it's absolutely not my fault?"

"Well, there are two sides to every story and a fault might not be on either end and might be more of a miscommunication," Mino said, blue-grey eyes staring at her sincerely.

"Yeah, this isn't like that," Sakura said, "it _really_ isn't my fault."

"So who's fault would you say it is?" Mino asked. "Your fathers mostly?"

"Stepfather," Sakura corrected. "He isn't my biological father, he died when I was very young and I don't even remember him. But no, I believe they share equal blame."

"Ah, so what is your stepfather like?"

"Well, to sum him up, he's the kind of man who believes their daughters only exist to give them grandchildren."

"Oh," Yamato winced.

Sakura nodded solemnly.

Mino nodded along with her. "Go on."

"No." Sakura crossed her arms again. "I don't want to talk anymore. Isn't it someone else's turn? You didn't spend this long on Kakashi."

Everyone stared expectantly at her.

Sakura groaned in frustration. "Do you all really want to know?" There were nods all around. "It's really not a big deal."

"I'd say not speaking to your family for two years is kind of a big deal," Sasuke intoned.

"Yeah, well…," Sakura unfolded her arms from their stiff entwinement and fiddled with her fingers again. Sakura sighed and started, "Do you all know who Hashimoto Tamaki is?"

"Isn't he that guy who owns the biggest weaponry incorporation in Konoha?" Naruto answered. "The millionaire."

"Yes," Sakura continued, "you see, I've known Tamaki since I was a child, we used to play together in my front yard—but anyways, our families are very close on account that my family has provided the steel needed for their business for many years now. So, it was decided by our two families that it would be a great idea to merge the two companies to cut expenses on both sides, but the problem was that even though they were close, their trust didn't extend beyond the reach of their wallets. To make sure there was no duplicity on either side they came up with the _brilliant_ idea that Tamaki and I would marry when we were old enough." Sakura saw Kakashi start from the corner of her eye. "I mean, nothing was set in stone since arranged marriages are not the norm anymore like they used to be, but they really expected it to happen. _Oddly_ enough, though, they didn't expect me to have an opinion about it."

"Ah, so you told them no?" Mino asked, engrossed by her story and listening intently by placing a hand on his chin and leaning forward.

"More or less."

"What do you mean?" Mino inquired.

"Well, at first they were subtle about how they brought us together," Sakura answered, actually feeling better. "They always found an excuse to leave us alone together for long periods of time and make it seem coincidental. It didn't take me long to figure out what they were on about and when I did, I just ignored it since I was busy with my training. My parents tolerated me becoming a kunoichi, figuring that I would fall out of it at some point, and when I didn't my stepfather decided he needed to do something about it."

"What was that?" Mino said.

Now Sakura was getting to the hairy part. She told him, but sighed first. "When I turned sixteen, he thought I was plenty old enough to get married—you can married at that age with parent's consent—he figured that if he could get me married as soon as possible that he could put a stop to my chosen career, that in his eyes, would bring me away from their plans."

"This was when you told him no then?"

"No, not yet, actually, Mino-san," Sakura explained. "Surprisingly my mother fought him on it. I'd never seen her disagree with him on any subject, but with this matter she did. She told him that I was too young and that she wouldn't have it. She managed to convince him eventually with other reasons why it wasn't a good idea just yet, but for her, I think it was mostly the fear of me becoming a mother at the age of sixteen—you see, she had me when she was sixteen and knew the consequences; at least she spared me that. Anyways, it went on like this for a while, with them nudging it at me from every angle, apparently not reading the gargantuan "no" vibe from me until I finally started telling them no."

"I'm guessing that didn't pan out very well?" Mino proffered.

Sakura snorted. "Yeah, you can say that. Arguments about it became our evening pastime. My resistance became so aggravating to him that one day he outright commanded that I marry him…"

"That was when you outright told them no," Mino guessed.

Sakura nodded, and then cleared her throat self-consciously. "Except, I didn't quite phrase it that simply."

"Go on."

Sakura tapped her fingers against her knee. "You have to understand, Mino-san, that this was after years of persistence and under few circumstances would I ever speak to my parents this way."

Mino nodded. "Okay."

Sakura bit her bottom lip and decided to tell him. "I told them that the only way I would marry him would be if they dragged my cold, dead corpse to the alter and placed the ring on my finger themselves."

Naruto burst out laughing. "Ah, Sakura-chan, you found the best way to tell them no."

"And what did you parents say after that confession?" Mino asked.

"My stepfather told me that if I didn't want to help the family out that I might as well not be a part of it and he told me to leave. My mother just sat there."

"So you left."

"Yes, but at the time I was only seventeen and didn't have very many options living situation-wise, so I went to Tsuande and told her what was going on." Sakura chuckled. "She wanted to march straight over to my parents and knock some sense into them once I told her, but I told her not to bother and so she just offered me a room in her Hokage quarters. She didn't let me pay rent or help with the groceries and I had been taking missions since the age of thirteen so when I turned eighteen, I had a pretty decent savings stored—enough to afford my own place when the time came. I already knew where I wanted my life to go, so I went on ahead and reached jonin and received my medical license and, well, that's that," Sakura finished with a shrug.

"Well, I'd say you're a very well-rounded individual, Haruno-san," complimented Mino with a small smile. Sakura grinned happily and preened.

Kakashi was still looking at her when he spoke. "How come you never told us what was going on?"

Sakura shrugged and met his eyes for the first time since their session had started. "My problems seemed kind of inconsequential in hindsight. It seemed kind of silly compared with everything else that was going on and all of your guys' problems with mine only being telling my mother that no, I will not marry the very rich man."

"I think there was a bit more to it than that," Kakashi said softly. His lone grey eye spoke volumes that Sakura wasn't exactly sure how to read.

Feeling inept, Sakura turned back to Mino. "That's why I haven't spoken to my parents in two years, Mino-san. I told you it wasn't my fault."

"It certainly isn't, Haruno-san," Mino agreed. "You haven't spoken to them since the event, then?"

"There's been the occasional brunch, which unfortunately always end the same way, so I stopped trying," answered Sakura.

"Would you like us to thrash this Hashimoto-man for you, Ugly?" Sai offered. Sakura knew that no matter how many rude jokes he made or his many societal faux-paus, that underneath he was a very protective person first and a jerk second.

Mino looked nervous. "Now, I highly advise against that."

Sakura laughed. "No, but thank you, Sai. Tamaki is actually a very nice man. After that last thing with my parents happened the next thing I did was storm into his office and basically shout at him that there was a snowball's chance in hell that I would ever marry him and he, well, uh happened to be in a meeting at the time with ten other people and all he did was sit there and listen to me until I was finished. He then calmly told me that I had every right to be angry and that he never expected me to marry him unwillingly. He's still nice to me even after that."Sasuke looked at her questioningly. "I still see him at the market sometimes," Sakura explained.

The relationship Sakura had with her parents truly saddened her, but she was adept at hiding it. Her mother wouldn't speak to her, and her stepfather, no matter that he wasn't her biological father, was the only father figure she had ever known since she was a child and she thought that he probably didn't like her all that much seeing as she'd cost him millions of dollars. She remembered when her and her mother used to be close like mother and daughter should be, and when she looked at the way their relationship had turned, a sort of loneliness settled in her chest.

Mino said, "Maybe we should bring in your parents and have a session with just the three of you and we could try to explain—,"

"Absolutely not," Sakura interrupted, obstinate. No way was that ever going to happen. Her parents didn't communicate, they only argued.

"Alright," Mino acquiesced, "But my office is always open."

Sakura only nodded.

Mino motioned for them to move on, probably sensing Sakura's reluctant demeanor and deciding to leave her be for now. Sakura breathed easier, feeling relieved.

Mino progressed with Sasuke some, getting him to talk about his travels mostly. Naruto confessed his stress with his training to be Hokage. Sai expressed his confusion towards a situation that had transpired the week before when he'd informed an adolescent man that his pants were falling off, not knowing that for some misinformed teenagers, the fad was considered cool, and the boy had given him the finger and walked off (Sakura thought that one was hilarious). Yamato spoke about his frustration in a mission he had gone on with a most lazy partner.

They were dismissed later in the afternoon to everybody's relief and so they filed out into a sunny day, but before they could go, Mino mentioned that next session would involve physical activity and to dress accordingly.

Sakura waved goodbye to Sai, Sasuke, Yamato, and Naruto because they had somewhere else to be, but Kakashi kept pace beside her. Sakura hoped he wasn't going to question her on the proceedings of the therapy session—she hadn't talked so much about the subject since she had told Tsunade and Sakura found she was spent.

"Would you like to go to lunch?" Kakashi asked. "I'll buy."

Sakura smiled softly. Of course he wouldn't insist; Kakashi had always been kind to her in that way, letting her sort herself out before offering his help.

The offer to buy her lunch would have been astonishing if he hadn't developed the habit a few years back…but then she'd remembered he had become distant, and the spontaneous lunches that they once had shared became scarce. Sakura had wondered at his absence, but hadn't questioned him, simply letting their relationship dwindle. She was starting to think that maybe she shouldn't have been so idle.

Sakura did not blush nor did she think of what she had witnessed a week ago and the awkwardness and tension that had ensued when she looked to meet his gaze. She merely smiled at his familiar glinting silver hair and laced her arm through the crook of his.

"I would love to, Kakashi."

…

 **A/N:** Don't worry, Mixedchillies, I'm still very much working on this story. In fact, I have the next 2-3 chapters written and already know how it's gonna end, which is more than I can say for my other stories :/

Thanks for reading and leaving nice comments. You guys are great :D

Constructive and/or kind reviews are always appreciated ^_^


	5. You Gotta Keep 'Em Seperated

**A/N:** I thought I had tagged this story as Kakashi+Sakura, but I guess I didn't. Thanks for pointing that out, Anilegna :)

It's around 2am where I'm at and I can't sleep, so I decided to update a chapter. I might update another tomorrow 'cause I have quite a bit of this story written out and I feel bad for waiting so long to post a chapter.

You Gotta Keep 'Em Separated

— _"Were too old to be misbehaved"_

Was the delineation of 'stress-relief' considered punching objects to powder for Sakura?

As Kakashi watched Sakura pummel yet another boulder with a consternated look on her face and no obvious training method incorporated that he could see, he realized, yes, yes it was.

While in Tsunade's office that morning on particular mission business, she had asked him if he could check up on Sakura, probably to make sure she wasn't trying to sneak any work in on her off-time and also because Tsunade was acutely worried about her. "That girl thinks too much" she'd grumbled, mostly to herself than him.

The reason she'd sent him was because Tsunade knew he had nothing planned for the rest of the day besides reading _Icha Icha_ , which _she_ didn't count as something to do, so she'd sent him off in search of Sakura. There was that reason…

…and also the fact that Tsunade knew how he felt about Sakura.

When Kakashi had organized his mind around that fact himself three years ago, he'd dreaded being around Tsunade. He thought, absurdly he might add, that her piercing gaze would tear the truth right from his very mind when she looked at him for too long. Kakashi knew how protective she was of her apprentice and if she knew the thoughts he'd been having about Sakura, she would hang him from his big toe from Hokage mountain…naked.

Even still his paranoia around Tsunade had grown so profound, so he didn't want to even look her in the eye, that one day he'd full on blurted it out in her office while they were alone.

His visible eye had been wide with fear. "I'm in love with her," he'd said in a rush.

Tsunade had stilled and looked up at him in puzzlement. "Who?"

Kakashi had only stared at her some more, hoping his eye wouldn't pop out from how wide he was stretching his eyelids.

He'd waited while she studied his frightened face for answers and until her look of confusion had transitioned to one of absolute astonishment.

"Really?" she'd asked, astounded.

Kakashi had only nodded, body so wired that he thought his neck might snap from the small movement.

Tsunade had stared at him some more while biting the inside of her right cheek. No anger or feeling similar had crossed her face yet, which made him even tenser.

She finally moved to talk and Kakashi had flinched thinking of all the things he'd had yet to do in his life before his untimely death in the Hokage's office. "Well, shit, Kakashi, I don't know what to tell you," is all she'd said, having only moved to set her pen down on the desk.

Kakashi had let out his pent up breath at her answer, shocked that he hadn't received some kind of bodily harm by from of a launched stapler.

"You don't mind?" he'd asked.

"Why would I, Hatake?" she'd answered simply. "Does she know?"

Kakashi had shaken his head. "And I want to keep it that way, Hokage-sama. Please don't put us on any missions together anymore."

Tsunade had sighed, placing a hand on her forehead. "So you're going that route, huh? Dumbass."

After that day, Tsunade tried pushing them together, encouraging Kakashi to spend more time with Sakura, so she might reciprocate, but Kakashi absolutely refused, feeling exhausted because he hadn't imagined a scenario where confessing to Tsunade about Sakura would make Tsunade relentless in her efforts.

So here Kakashi was, watching Sakura bully boulders, waiting until she noticed him so he could say hi.

Their dinner last night had been pleasant, but then Sakura had become distant and he'd see her looking at him with remorse, which confused him to no end. He'd tried joking with her and she'd laughed at the appropriate times, but it didn't seem as heartfelt as other times.

Kakashi knew he could try to blame it on the occurrence that had happened last week, but he knew that wasn't the problem.

He'd give her time to figure it out.

Seeing that Sakura was too engrossed in her task and not going to notice him anytime soon, he waited for her to pause for a moment before appearing right in front of her.

Startled green eyes widened and a chakra laden fist rose in his direction, but Kakashi quickly put up two surrendering hands. "Whoa, it's just me."

Sakura's chest heaved as she stared at him. "Kakashi. What are you doing here?" She lowered her fist and backed off her fighting stance.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Mind if I join you?" he asked. He hadn't exactly thought of a good enough excuse as to why he'd shown, but thought this one as good as any.

Sakura blinked. "You want to spar with me?" she asked, surprise coloring her tone.

Kakashi nodded.

"Okay." And without warning, Sakura lunged towards him.

Kakashi dodged just as he would have received a punch to the gut and side-stepped as Sakura pivoted, coming straight for him again.

On the offensive, Kakashi stopped a blow from one of her legs with his arm, already knowing it would bruise badly.

Something was definitely bothering her.

Surprised at her ferocity, Kakashi took a moment to gather his wits and actually push back with his own moves.

He caught her arm and pulled her closer, but she twisted in his grip and freed her arm from his grasp, swiveling to try to catch him on the side with her leg.

They went on like this for a while, neither one getting the upper hand and not wanting to use any weapons or chakra for a normal spar when Sakura abruptly stopped.

She looked at him, breathing harsh and chest heaving as much as when he'd first happened upon her. Kakashi backed off immediately, confused at her behavior.

"Why'd you stop?" she said, pink hairs falling across her flustered face.

Stop trying to pummel her? He didn't understand.

"I, uh—," Kakashi started, not sure what she meant.

Sakura shook her head, seeming frustrated with herself. "I mean, why did you stop seeking out my company?" She seemed self-conscious. "I'm saying this at the risk of sounding cliché, but I thought we were friends? Believe it or not, I liked spending time with you."

Kakashi really hated himself sometimes—hated his propensity towards self-destruction, not bothering to notice it had affected Sakura, too.

Like usual, he couldn't find the right words and only stared at her.

Sakura stared hard at him for a moment longer, and Kakashi thought those vibrant green eyes of hers were trying to bore into his skull and decipher his thoughts. She then shook her head and gave a small breathy laugh. "That's probably why you stopped, huh? Because I ask you questions like these." She shook her head and backed away.

"Sakura—," Kakashi started, not even sure what he was going to say to her, but she interrupted him.

"Thanks for the spar, Kakashi," she started walking away and gave him a small wave. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

He wanted to run after her, to at least try to explain his horrible nature of avoiding what he cared about most, but he didn't.

Kakashi only watched her leave.

…

Sakura dressed in her regular jonin attire on Thursday, seeing it as proper physical apparel for whatever Mino had planned for them that day.

She flinched for what had probably been the tenth time that morning while pouring boiling water into her mug for tea—unpleasant recollections of yesterday's conversation with Kakashi kept popping into her mind without invitation.

Kami, she was dumb.

Really dumb.

Once she had gotten home yesterday after her frenzy of a sparring session, mortification had set in. Had she really asked Kakashi that inane question? When she thought about it, she had no right to ask him anything of the sort and he had no obligation to answer. Heck, he might not have even seen their once consistent gatherings as no more that coincidental occurrences.

Sakura sighed as she stared at her steaming cup in melancholy disdain; she'd probably just worsened the situation and all she wanted to do was kick herself.

If the action would get her to stop thinking stupid thoughts then she would gladly do it. As it were, she had somewhere to be and something to do so she should get her head straight.

Sakura shook herself and after finishing her light breakfast, she headed out, trying to keep her mind clear.

…

Despite her condensation of thoughts, Sakura enjoyed the sunny walk down to the ol' familiar brick building. Bustling Konohanians ambled past her, immersed in their own lives, merchants advertised their products from the side of the street with loud voices, reminding Sakura she needed to go grocery shopping later, children shouted in glee, full-bellied dogs barked, and, hm, was that man drunk? Oh, and look at that puppy! Oh, and that new ice cream shop had just opened! That song drifting out from that restaurant was gust lovely. Wait, that strawberry blonde hair attached to that head looked awfully familiar…

"Oh, shit!" Sakura whispered and ducked behind a hulking man beside her and kept pace with him. Just when she was starting to enjoy herself.

Uttering a silent prayer, Sakura skulked past the familiar pale face and pair of piercingly nosy aqua blue eyes belonging to that of her oldest stepsister.

Although she might not be looking for Sakura per se, she'd rather avoid that confrontation, seeing that her stepsister had a tendency towards being a raving bitch.

For one panic-stricken moment, Sakura thought she might have spotted her ingenious method for subterfuge, but Sakura wasn't an elite jonin for nothing and before she could glance in her direction again, Sakura slid between two buildings and took a shortcut to her destination.

Sakura grinned widely, gait now a casual lope now that she had escaped unscathed—not that she couldn't hold her own against her banshee of a stepsister—she just didn't want to expend the energy. Sakura already had enough problems in her life, thank you very much.

Closing in on the now familiar building, Sakura only now took in her surroundings to find everyone already waiting outside.

"Haruno-san," Mino greeted with a smile as Sakura drew nearer, "good, good, now we're all here."

"Am I late?" Sakura asked, studiously ignoring Kakashi yet again. Would they ever find equilibrium?

"No, no," Mino replied, eyes even more watery in the hot summer air as he looked at her. "We're right on schedule. Let's get going, shall we?" And without further ado, he stalked off down the road.

Donning a more pleasant expression Sakura followed. Sasuke nodded in greeting while Naruto slung an arm around her shoulders and started prattling on about something he and Hinata had done the day before. Yamato and Sai seemed engrossed in their own conversation as they made their merry way towards what she now guessed were the training fields. She chanced a glance towards Kakashi to find him staring straight ahead, only visible eye wearing the same sardonic expression as ever. Feeling her gaze on him, Kakashi turned to regard her, but Sakura quickly looked away, not sure why her pulse had quickened now when it had not so much as glitched when she'd spotted her crapbag of a stepsister earlier.

Mino lead them into a familiar training field that Sakura had commandeered for her own use more than she'd like to admit over the past two weeks. He called for everyone's attention and then just stood there, smiling unsettlingly at the five of them.

Sakura rose one eyebrow and Mino's smile widened. "Have at each other," he proclaimed, hands on hips.

"Um, excuse me?" Yamato asked, confused.

Mino's smile didn't disappear. "From what I've witnessed these past few sessions, I'm sure all of you, at one time or another, have wanted to punch each other in the face. Well, I'm giving you that chance without repercussions towards the completion of these sessions." Mino nudged his head towards the grassy clearing as if to say "get going", encouraging with his eyes.

Sakura blinked at him and then realized she had not been solo with that reaction.

Naruto blinked some more. "You mean you want us to beat the shit out of each other?"

"Not exactly that far, Uzumaki-san," Mino replied. "I only want you five to release some of that stored aggression you carry towards each other. It'll help, trust me."

Naruto looked befuddled, scratching his head. "Uh, okay."

"Wait!" Mino shouted abruptly, startling everyone. He looked nervous. "No, ah, fancy jutsu things or special eyes or art stuff and magic wood, okay guys? Don't want anyone getting hurt. Aha." He still looked nervous and then seemed to forget something. He turned to Sakura and pointed a finger at her. "No monstrous strength either. Just a regular spar, alright?"

Sakura adopted the general expression of "why, I would never", blinking eyelashes included and everything. Sai was staring at her with the word "bullshit" written across his face and Sakura made sure to throw him a look that said she was gunning for him when the time came.

"Kami forbid we use 'fancy jutsu things'," Kakashi mumbled under his breath, so that only Sakura heard. She bit her lip to keep from grinning.

"Special eyes, what the fuck?" Sasuke grumbled under his breath. Sakura was already starting to feel better.

Mino cleared his throat at their inaction. "You can, ah, begin." He waved one hand awkwardly as if it was a starting flag.

Naruto, not needing to be told again, immediately twisted and aimed a punch towards Sasuke who predictably dodged in time.

Everything sort of ignited after the initial starting punch.

Yamato ducked Kakashi's sweeping arm in his direction, catching a thump to the head instead by Kakashi's gloved fist.

Sakura spotted Sai coming towards her, eyes narrowed, and she remembered all the nasty comments over the years and she was more than ready for whatever he had to throw at her. She expertly grabbed his impending arm against her neck, twisting and parrying by kicking him really hard in the shin. A petty move, she'd admit, but one no less deserved. She was rewarded with a sharp grunt. Sai, dark eyes burning with awaiting retaliation, freed himself and Sakura readied herself for the next series of blows, dodging everyone and giving herself a metaphorical pat on the back for all those extra training sessions she had gone through over the last two weeks.

Sakura, about to deal a decisive blow, stuttered when she felt a hand on her right breast. She turned to find Naruto staring at her in horror, eyes as wide as dinner plates.

Naruto turned tail and ran, arms waving in the air, not at all ninja-like. "I'M SORRY, SAKURA-CHAN! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"

Sakura narrowed her eyes in his direction and his screams became shriller. She turned and pushed Sai over, not worrying about him following because Sasuke had appeared to pin him down. He looked at her. "Go get that idiot."

Sakura nodded and ran after a zigzagging Naruto just as the memory of the time he tried to sneak a peek at her in the onsen flashed through her mind, giving her extra fuel. Gaining on him, Naruto started running around like a chicken without its head until she finally got a good angle and jumped on his back, grabbing his blonde hair, while repeatedly whacking him on the head with her other hand.

He managed to dislodge her and while she was on the floor making to her feet again, he ran into a small copse of trees, disappearing from her view. Deciding she wasn't done with him yet, Sakura ran after him, the tree's shadow's encompassing her form.

Silence surrounded her senses once she'd stepped by the trees completely. She peered into the shadows searching for Naruto who had gone conveniently quiet, when she felt a presence appear behind her. Sakura pivoted, expecting Naruto, but instead clashing with Kakashi, an intense look encompassing his face.

His mask was around his neck.

 _Huh, so he_ did _have a small mole on his chin_ , Sakura thought for a split-second, vaguely remembering wondering if she'd actually seen the mark the first time or not.

She was sure her mouth opened in a small 'o' and completely caught off-guard, he managed to herd her against a tree. Her back hit the rough bark with a small thump as he surrounded her with an arm on each side of her head. She tried for a punch at his gut, but he quickly grabbed it and pinned it above her head.

He was so close.

But not close enough, said a repressed voice in her head.

Sakura's breathing was twofold compared to the shallow gasps they had been before his appearance. He was staring straight at her.

Sakura was becoming embarrassed with her labored breathing, so she tried to kick him this time around, but he only pressed closer, molding their bodies together and the tiniest part in the way way back of her brain reminded her that this could now not even pass as a semblance for sparring and she couldn't care one bit.

They breathed against each other, bodies undulating in tandem to both sets of harsh breathing. Sakura met his gaze, refusing to be the first one to back down, and thoughts of yesterday's conversation with him absent from her mind.

If he wanted to play that way, she would show him she could meet him head on. Kakashi was trying to frazzle her, maybe so she would stay away from him, but it was having the absolute opposite effect.

Recollections of vivid dreams rushed back into her head as she lowered her free arm and placed it on his stomach caressing her way to his chest, unfortunately over his shirt, but hey, she'd take it.

His charcoal eye widened considerably and Sakura was able to free her other arm in his moment of astonishment and repeat the motion.

His mouth hardened into one hard line as he grabbed her right side, making his way to her hip, pressing himself ever closer.

A soft gasp escaped her. All her nerve-endings were on fire in a most delicious way.

Kakashi sighed and dropped his face close to her neck. Goosebumps appeared on her skin where his breath touched her skin. "I'm sorry about yesterday," he whispered against her neck.

Sakura only half-heard his words as her eyes fluttered and she shivered lightly. His lips had been brushing her neck when he spoke.

Unconsciously, she arched against him.

Kakashi let her go immediately.

Sakura froze. Shit, what was that?

They stared at each other, breathing not even close to being back to normal. She was sure her face was as red as a beet.

Sakura turned on a dime and dashed out of the copse of trees, blinking in the sunlight and trying to make sense of what had happened which had been initiated by Kakashi no less.

Yamato running past her brought Sakura back to her senses. Sai was chasing him. In her peripheral, she saw Sasuke advancing, eyes trained on her. Sakura shoved all other thoughts from her mind, knowing she would need all her reflexes to keep him at bay.

But out of nowhere, she was completely drained.

Sakura eyed him: this bastard had just up and left them. And then deciding 'fuck it', she rushed at him.

Sasuke's eyes widened, apparently not expecting such a juvenile attack and a more refined one, which was why Sakura guessed she was actually victorious with her strategy.

She tackled him, arms wrapped around his stomach as they fell to the floor in a jumble.

Apparently Naruto had been right behind him because Sakura heard two very distinct ' _oof's_ ' as they fell, each of them regressing to juvenile attacks unbefitting of shinobi. Sakura lost track of which hands were pinching who on all accounts and which hands were slapping who.

Sakura was still half on top of Sasuke and he atop of Naruto when Sai joined the party by tugging on Naruto's hair and then Yamato, with a triumphant shout, then pounced on Sai, grabbing at the skin of his face, making Sai wear funny expressions not of his own violation. The icing on the cake was when Kakashi attacked by joining Sakura on the floor while trying to get to Sasuke, landing on top of her. Sakura turned, squeezing him with her legs a little harder than necessary for what had happened back in the trees.

Sakura didn't know how long the wuss fight lasted, but she did know when she abruptly stopped. Her stillness acted as a signal for the others to stop too, because everything was abruptly silent and still.

Sakura let her head fall back against Sasuke's stomach and she gazed at the heaves when she just started…laughing.

Not her normal breathy, bordering on airless laugh, but a genuine, low-bellied rumble filled with mirth.

Still half atop of Sasuke and he atop of Naruto and Sai and Yamato in there somewhere, too, Sakura felt when they started laughing as well. Sasuke's was a bit quieter, but his stomach still bounced under her head. Naruto's was the loudest, Sai's also light, and Yamato's full-hearted. Kakashi had let his head fall against her abdomen and Sakura placed a hand against his head without thinking, burying her fingers through his hair just to feel him laugh.

She could live in this moment.

Sakura heard feet walking on soft grass before Mino appeared, blocking out half the sun and peering down at them.

"Feeling better?" he asked with a grin.

"You really know what you're doing, Mino-san! That was great," Naruto praised, getting to his feet, which seemed to act as a movement for the others to stand as well.

Kakashi quickly made to his feet not meeting her gaze now that the short laughing stint was over. Sakura stood, feeling bereft.

Even though he would not look at her, there was still an ambience of pleasantness in the surrounding aura and on everyone's faces. Naruto smiled at her and she smiled back, before remembering what had happened a few minutes earlier and piercing him with her stare. Naruto gulped and hastily turned to talk to Yamato.

She found Sasuke staring at her. He nodded. "Good spar."

Sakura snorted. "If you can even call it that." She smiled at him and the tension that had been present between them since he had returned lessened considerably.

"That went much more smoothly than I anticipated," Mino announced with a happy smile. "I had found in earlier studies and through self-reflection that a little physical exertion between two conflicting individuals can be a magnificent cure that words can sometimes not fix."

Sakura thought that a little physical exertion between Kakashi and she wouldn't hurt anyone, before blushing, horrified because holy shit, STOP RIGHT THERE, PLEASE!

"Anyway," Mino continued, "I believe this a great—,"

"There you are, Sakura!" huffed a whinny voice from across the field.

Everyone paused.

Sakura didn't even have to turn to visually identify the person; she knew who it was just by that tint of bitch coloring her words. "Shit," she mumbled and then looked to Mino contritely, wondering if her bad words debunked her points or something in his analyzation of her. "I mean fudge."

"Sakura, mom wants to talk to you…unfortunately," her stepsister, Kasumi, said with snide.

Sakura's shoulders sagged. "No, I mean shit." And maybe 'fuck', too. She prolonged turning to meet her stepsister, keeping her at her back as long as she could. She met Kakashi's gaze by accident and he was looking at her with questions in his eyes.

In the last session, Sakura had refrained from mentioning her two step sister's simply for the fact that she already had enough trouble describing her mother and father and didn't want to add a conceited, gold-digging monster and a consistent ditz to the Frankenstein family and have her teammates judge her.

Sakura put on her best fake smile, improvement of which courtesy of Sai, and turned to look at Kasumi. "Kasumi," she wasn't in the freaking mood, "go away." Simple. To the point.

But of course it wouldn't be so easy.

Kasumi flipped her long strawberry blonde hair out of her eyes and huffed. "Yeah, like I want to be searching for you all over the village anyway. I have better things to do."

Sakura eyed her. Sure at first glance, Kasumi was easy on the eyes, but beauty was no indication of personality and that twist of her face as if she smelled something nasty, belayed something rotten inside.

"Who…?" Mino asked softly next to her.

The StepBitch. "My stepsister," Sakura answered quietly back.

"Ah."

"I didn't know you had siblings," Naruto said, eyeing Kasumi, not sure what to make of her.

"Yeah, well, you'll see why in a minute," Sakura responded. She put her attention back on Kasumi. "I think mom made it pretty clear last time we talked that she didn't want to talk to me unless I changed my mind about a certain someone, and guess what? I haven't."

Kasumi wrinkled her nose at her. "Ugh, you're so dumb. Tamaki is so cute and he's super rich, I would have totally married him."

"Oh," Naruto whispered and the others nodded in agreement to that statement.

"Thank kami he was spared that fate," Sakura mumbled, but Kasumi heard her and scoffed. When the arrangement had been made between their two families, it was agreed that Sakura would marry Tamaki since she was the oldest. Kasumi, only being a few months younger than her, was another suitable replacement were it not for the fact that Tamaki knew Kasumi's personality very well from the times he and Sakura had played together from when they were younger and their meetings thereafter. Kasumi had always taken to stalking about when Tamaki was over and prattling on incessantly and it was only Tamaki's good nature that restrained him from telling her to fuck off, but there had existed no such deterrent for Sakura. Sakura had been present when Kasumi had been offered as a replacement to Sakura when they were teenagers and the unveiled look of horror on Tamaki's face asserted Sakura's good opinion of him that day. Tamaki had politely refused saying that if Sakura did not want to marry him then there would be no marriage. Sakura suspected she had been a grateful scapegoat to that unfortunate union.

"Listen, Kasumi, if mom really wanted to talk to me she would have come down here herself instead of sending you and since I haven't changed my mind, I really don't like to spend my afternoon's getting yelled at for something that I have every right to refuse. So," Sakura waved her hand patronizingly, "go away."

Kasumi rudely replied, probably already gaining juice and ticked off from Sakura's earlier comment, "Yeah. Mom already knows that, she just wants to invite you to our picnic is all, you know? The one we have every year? I don't know why, but she wants you there." Frigid blue eyes gleamed with malic. "Like you didn't screw the whole family over by not accepting Tamaki."

Sakura bristled.

"Hey, that's not—," Naruto stared, coming to her aide, but Sakura stopped him by putting her arm out.

Kasumi should know by now that Sakura could do bitch so much better.

"You know, Kasumi," Sakura started casually, "if it bothers you so much why didn't you just marry him instead? Oh wait!" Sakura placed a finger on her chin and looked to Kasumi with a stone cold look. "He didn't want you." She folded her arms across her chest. "Now, I bet you have some trolling for millionaires to do about the village and I'm keeping you from it, so run along now."

"You're such a bitch, Sakura!" Kasumi sneered, seemingly out of more substantial comments.

Sakura only inclined her head, as if it were a compliment.

Kasumi's scathing gaze finally shifted to regard her teammates for the first time since the beginning of the 'conversation', she had ignored them 'till now. She pointed her nose in the air as if in triumph. "You know that the whole village says you're sleeping with all your teammates?"

Was that the only recluse she had left?

"Jealous?" Sakura replied sweetly. She refrained from turning to catch a glimpse of her teammates and their reaction. She also didn't mention the fact that she really only wanted to sleep with one of them.

Kasumi was slowly turning as red as a tomato. She turned swiftly around and stomped out of the clearing without turning back.

"Tell mom I'll be there, Kasumi, won't you?" Sakura called after her with laughter in her voice.

Kasumi only flipped her off, disappearing behind the nearest building.

The training field was quiet for a moment.

Sakura's jaw jutted to the side as she stared at the direction Kasumi had walked towards. "I've always wanted to punch her in her stupid face."

"May we watch?" Sai asked.

Mino swallowed. "Ah, isn't there some kind of restriction that forbids shinobi from engaging in violence with a civilian?"

"She's a chuunin," Sakura replied, "and no there's not a restriction for that either. I checked."

Naruto seemed disquieted. He turned sea-blue eyes to look at her. "Do people really say that about us?"

Sakura smiled assuredly at him and shrugged. "I've heard worse and I'm sure you have, too. It's not the whole village, though, probably only the ones that _are_ jealous. Anyway does it really matter?"

Naruto smiled at her. "I guess not really, Sakura-chan."

"I couldn't really picture your family because I couldn't believe they were really how you described them," Yamato said, eyes wide with something akin to fear, "but now…"

"Don't make me feel worse, taichou," Sakura pouted. "And brace yourself because I have another stepsister."

Yamato cringed.

Kakashi spoke then, moving closer to her, "Are you really going to go to that family gathering that she mentioned? Seems redundant if you mother is only going to lecture you."

Sakura sighed. "Yes, I kind of have to. My grandmother would never forgive me and I actually really like my grandmother."

"Sorry," Sasuke took pity on her.

She only shrugged again. Maybe no one would notice if she got drunk beforehand; it would be the only way she could deal.

Kakashi was still staring at her, a crease between his eyebrows. "What if we went with you?"

Sasuke did a double-take just as Sai did. Yamato cringed again. Naruto smiled and nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah, we could do that, Sakura. Moral support and all that."

"That's a great idea!" Mino exclaimed. "Great team-building there, Hatake-san."

Kakashi ignored him still looking worryingly at Sakura.

Sakura gazed at Kakashi with wonder. "You would do that?"

Kakashi nodded. "Yes." For you, his eyes seemed to say.

Sakura smiled wholeheartedly at him. "Thank you." She turned to the rest of the guys and decided to assuage their torment. "Thank you to all of you, but you really don't have to. I won't subject you to that hell."

"No really, Sakura-chan," Naruto replied, "I think it would be kind of fun."

Sasuke, Sai, and Yamato seemed to reconsider at that last comment, looking at the situation from a different angle, like the good shinobi they were.

"Yes, I never considered that it could be very amusing to torment your criticizing relatives on your behalf," Sai mused.

"I'll be there," Sasuke nodded.

"Me, too," Yamato agreed.

"Really?" Sakura grinned. Oh, this was going to be fun.

"Well, if your mother doesn't mind the extra company?" Kakashi smiled.

Sakura shook her head. "She had been asking me for the longest time to meet you all and well, now you know why I never brought you over, but it shouldn't be a problem." Sakura grinned even wider. "This is going to be so great."

"Uh, what do we wear?" Naruto asked. "I've never been to anything like this before."

"You guys can wear costumes for all I care. It's going to be kind of fun seeing if I can sink any lower in their opinion of me."

"When is it?" Sasuke asked, dark eyes flashing in anticipation.

"A week from now on Friday."

Everyone nodded.

"This is wonderful," Mino grinned, "I've seen great improvement and you should be out of therapy in no time if you keep this up."

Sakura quirked an eyebrow. "It doesn't bother you that they're basically going to help me antagonize my family?"

Mino shook his head. "As long as you're doing it as a cohesive team, then no." He cleared his throat and shifted his eyes away. "And I shouldn't be saying this, but your family is kind of mean."

Sakura grinned again and looked around in delight. "You guys are the best."

…

Kakashi hates to see any of his once-were students hurting, and for obvious reasons, when Sakura hurts his chest also twists in correlation to her pain.

…Which was why he couldn't let her go to her poisonous family all on her own with no back-up. Also—he didn't know when he'd become such a sap (he kind of blamed _Icha Icha_ )— but he really liked the smile that she wore fully, because of him.

"Thank you, Kakashi," she said brightly, joyfully, before turning to chat with Mino.

Kakashi smiled under his mask, and then cast a sidelong glance because Sasuke had wandered over to him.

He was looking at Sakura with a slight frown on his face. "She doesn't call you 'sensei' anymore," he observed.

Kakashi thought for a minute; he recalled that the last time she had called him sensei was when she'd been around seventeen and then she'd seemed to drop the habit. He didn't know whether to be heartened by the fact that Sakura saw him as an equal or disappointed because maybe she had never really taken him seriously as a competent teacher.

Kakashi shrugged. "Well, when you look at it, I never really taught her much, did I? She went to Tsunade after only a year of being my student."

Sasuke still contemplated Sakura. "Yes, but she calls Yamato 'taichou'."

Kakashi was abruptly annoyed. "Maybe you should ask her then." Why was he being so insistent? Was he hinting at a feeling from Sakura that Kakashi knew was not present and probably never would be?

Now Sasuke shrugged. "It doesn't really matter anyway."

Kakashi sighed quietly; he was probably right about that.

Mino called them to attention by clapping his hands once. "Alright everyone, thanks for your cooperation in this session, it turned out great! I'll see you all next Tuesday for our next one." He dismissed them with a wave of his hand and an amiable smile.

The guy wasn't so bad, Kakashi thought while he turned away, thinking about what he'd make for dinner and which _Icha Icha_ book he would read over for the hundredth time.

His thoughts were interrupted though, when he felt her presence keeping pace with him. Kakashi looked to find the others had already gone and he hadn't noticed their leaving 'till now.

The closeness of her body wrenched his mind back to what had happened in the shadows of the trees at the training field. Kakashi shut his eyes for a brief moment, overcome with the memory of her body pressed against his and how she had, for one absurd moment, reciprocated his intentions. But that couldn't be right…still, it had felt real enough, especially to his own body.

Kakashi repressed a shudder when he thinks that he could have taken her right then and there, against the tree, and how she would have encouraged him.

He pulled back, harshly reminding himself to stay in the present, where Sakura is walking right next to him.

She keeps quiet as they walk through calm streets and afternoon heat. Kakashi doesn't look at her for fear of what he might see in her gaze and so keeps his stare aimed forward until it comes time for them to part ways, and she to head to her home and he to his.

He cleared his throat making to say an awkward and hurried goodbye without meeting her gaze, but she abruptly turns him about with a hand on his forearm.

What happened next was too sudden—he barely even had time to inhale.

Sakura rears herself forward on her toes and kisses him once on his masked lips for a heart-stopping second.

The warm press of her lips against his leaves a heavy impression even after she had backed away with a shy smile.

For once in his life, Kakashi is utterly and absolutely dumbfounded. He glad he's wearing his mask (or maybe he's not, he could have felt her lips) because his mouth is hanging open like the fool he is.

Green eyes don't move from his. "Thanks." And then she turns swiftly and runs away.

Kakashi stares after her, mind completely blank. He doesn't even know anymore.

…

 **A/N:** I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it!

Constructive and/or kind reviews are always appreciated (^_^)


	6. A Little Party Never Killed Nobody

**A/N:** Wow! Last chapter I updated, I only had eighteen followers and now there are 68 of you! Thanks for following… Okay, so I know I didn't update the next day, but this is much sooner than I usually do so… :D

Enjoy! (Oh, and thanks for the constructive criticism, aijoinu. You wouldn't believe how unwilling I am to give my chapters more than a quick read through and I know I miss some things, plus I don't have a beta :( So all of you are stuck with my crappy editing skills.)

A Little Party Never Killed Nobody

— _"Make up your mind, sweet baby,_

 _right here, right now's all we got"_

Why'd she do it?

 _Why'd the fuck did she do it?_

"Because I'm dumb," she answered herself in a whisper. Currently sitting on her couch back at her apartment, Sakura clutched at her hair in horror.

She'd just _kissed_ Kakashi!

Out of motherfucking nowhere!

All she knew was that one minute she'd been walking beside him, happy because of his intervention in her familial matters and then WHAM! She'd turned him around and slapped him a good one.

…And to deny that the action hadn't felt so absolutely wonderful to all her senses would be insane.

She knew she had been hyped up from there rendezvous in the training filed, but there were also all those restless nights, too and the hope that she was only wigging because of hormones was gone.

Sakura had a crush on Kakashi.

There.

It was done.

Sakura reflected on her self-proclaimed confession.

She knew she had always admired him because of his prowess as a shinobi. Also, even though he had not taught her much, she knew him to be a caring and intelligent man despite his shortcomings like being perpetually late and reading freaking porn in public.

Around the time Tsunade had taken her on as her apprentice, Sakura noticed a change in their relationship, at first because she literally never saw him for almost two years straight, and then because when they'd taken missions together, he'd seemed like a normal man to her; not sensei or famous Hatake Kakashi, Copy-nin, but just Kakashi.

He'd treated her like an equal and never talked down to her when they'd started meeting more often for missions and later when they'd randomly meet for dinner or for a friendly chat, he'd acted accordingly.

Later, she remembered becoming confused; he stopped taking missions with her and she knew in her gut that he had been avoiding her. His evasion had begun around the time she was turning nineteen and being still secretly insecure, Sakura thought that maybe it was her and so she hadn't sought out an explanation, learning from her experiences with a younger Sasuke that she would never force her company on someone who didn't want it.

And so their relationship had dwindled to only later be reignited by an accidental peep of a Kakashi that had sex and a homebound teammate.

Sakura rubbed her hands against her face rapidly in agitation.

Kami, his face. The expression on his face when she'd done it!

So now their relationship was botched because Sakura was sure that any hope of him reciprocating was like asking for rain in the scorching Suna desert.

Sakura wouldn't regret the kiss though, if, at the end of it all, that moment was all that remained of their companionship.

…

Sakura sat at Ichiraku on Friday, glaring at her ramen with the force, she was sure, of a thousand suns, when she felt someone settle next to her.

Oh, who the Kami was she kidding?!

Sakura knew exactly who this individual was by the way her body immediately reacted to the chakra with an electrified jolt.

Her neck creaked as she slowly turned to impress upon Kakashi her righteous stare.

She was met by a crinkle-eyed smile. "Good afternoon, Sakura."

Bastard.

Her sex-crazed dreams were all because of him and his stupidly sexually capable male body that just _decided_ it needed to have sex with a woman…

…that wasn't her.

Was that what it really came down to?

Another conundrum that twisted her gut most nights was if these feelings would have stayed doormat if she had not walked in on him that day almost three weeks ago. Would she be wondering over and over again how good the act would feel with him panting above her?

Sakura had a nagging suspicion in a narrow crevice in her brain that no, she would be doing just what she was doing right then—even if those feelings would have taken a bit longer to surface without the catalyst that catching Kakashi in the act had been—she was sure all these emotions would have roiled in anyway.

"This is all your fault," Sakura almost hissed. He didn't even look as if he remembered their kiss. Was she so unimpressionable?

In the light of the sunny bright Konoha day Sakura saw his smile dwindle as he looked at her in confusion.

Why the hell did she even like him?

Like, look at his hair! He could send a reflection signal all the way to the moon with how silver the strands are!

Damn, she had it bad if that was the only fault she found with him now, didn't she?

Sakura slowly stood from her chair and backed away, still glaring at a nonplussed Kakashi. "Why is your hair so shiny?" she whispered suspiciously.

Kakashi brought a hand to his hair self-consciously. He squinted at her. "Sakura, are you—?,"

"No," Sakura replied, not letting him finish his sentence. "No, I am not okay."

He cleared his throat awkwardly and fiddled with Ichiraku's stands' counter. "Is there anything I could do?"

Sakura stared him straight in the eye until he focused on her, too. "Yes, yes there is."

Kakashi studied her thoroughly, expression stymied until he blanched in astonishment.

Ever since she was little, Ino had tried to teach her a hard life lesson: sometimes you just had to throw caution to the wind and go for it.

Sakura could count on her right hand how many times she'd actually exercised this motto and now if she decided to use that life lesson again, she'd have to use her left hand to count.

So she was just throwing it out there.

Did he understand?

Did he care?

Kakashi still stared at her with his lone dark eye, shocked.

Well, that'll do it, Sakura thought miserably. She'd fucked everything even more.

She turned around and almost sprinted away.

…

Sakura burst into the Yamanaka family flower shop and spotted Ino behind the counter, arranging a colorful bouquet.

"Ino, I need to get laid!" Sakura blatantly shouted to her blonde best friend.

Sakura blinked and looked sideways slightly—only after she shouted had she noticed a customer in the shop. Sakura grinned a slow, sheepish grin at the older woman shopping for azaleas. "Hello, Mrs. Homamura." The woman was a long-time gossip-friend of her mothers.

Mrs. Homamura huffed, affronted, tight chignon atop her head wobbling as she stormed out.

Whatever—they all already thought the worst of her anyway.

Ino hadn't payed any mind though because she was looking at Sakura with a side-grin and nodding appreciatively. " _Alright_."

…

"Ino, maybe I _don't_ need to get laid," Sakura said, unsure. Yesterday she'd been so confident in her thought of solving the problem by flushing Kakashi out of her system with a good roll in the hay with someone who wasn't Kakashi.

But now…

…Ino had her in a tight black dress, no bra, and cheeky white panties underneath.

Yesterday, after her shouted confession, Ino had reminded Sakura of Genma's birthday party that they were throwing at the old Wobbly Shurikan. She had commanded that they were going to attend and that she'd bring along a friend from the department she frequented in ANBU headquarters while helping her dad with interrogations. According to Ino, she'd heard her acquaintance was "a great lay" wink, wink.

"Nonsense," Ino chastised lightly, while fluffing out Sakura's hair to give it more volume.

Ino herself was in a skin-tight, metallic blue dress, matching Sakura's baby doll dress only in how short they both were.

"Are you sure he's going to be…good?" Sakura asked, having second thoughts. "Have you ever slept with him?" Sakura made a face while saying that last part. Her current thought was just weird.

Ino tugged her hair. "No, Forehead, I don't sleep with people I work with. It's a general rule."

Right. Which was why she couldn't sleep with Kakashi.

Sakura knew she didn't need to be in love with the first person she slept with, she'd figured that out long ago, but she did know that she needed the guy to be good.

Ino sighed and bent at the waist so her chin rested on Sakura's right shoulder. She looked at Sakura through the vanity mirror with a small smile. "Sakura, you don't have to do this if you don't want to, you know that right? I've got your back no matter what. But…" She stood and started fidgeting with her hair again, "Hiro—that's his name by the way—is a nice guy and he's cute and you don't even have to sleep with him tonight if you don't want to. Take it easy, go on a few dates first." She paused for a moment. "What was the rush before anyway? You came in my shop screaming that you wanted to get laid and you've already waited this long, so why not wait a few more weeks, hm?"

Sakura bit her lip, not wanting to disclose her Kakashi business that she'd been wrestling with these past few weeks. She knew Ino would probably understand, but she just couldn't bring herself to admit her feelings. "I don't know, Ino," Sakura half-lied, "I just want to do it already. I want to know what all the hype is about, you know?"

Ino eyed her, lips pursed in a way that showed Sakura she wasn't completely convinced. "Fine then. Don't bite your lip again; you're ruining your lipstick."

They spent a few more minutes on their makeup before Ino proclaimed that they looked fabulous and that if they left now, they should be fashionably late enough. The two kunoichis left Sakura's apartment, strolling into a pleasantly warm summer night, but Ino paused abruptly before heading down the stairs, "You brought condoms, right?"

"Oh my—yes, Ino! Say it louder!"

Ino only grinned wolfishly at her.

Halfway to the bar, it was Sakura's turn to pause. "Shit, we didn't get Genma a present."

Ino and Sakura looked at each other contemplatively until Sakura shrugged and suggested, "We could just give him condoms, I brought enough."

They both thought about the womanizing shinobi and nodded, thinking the present fitting.

"Wait, how many did you bring?" Ino asked.

"The whole box."

Ino giggled. "You virgin."

Sakura winked at her and shot her a figure gun. "Not for long."

…

Sakura and Ino arrived outside the Wobbly Shurikan, greeted by loud voices and even louder music.

Sakura, a nervous wreck, shot out her hand and said, "Here, give Genma his present."

Despite their earlier solution of giving Genma condoms, they hesitated not wanting him to get the wrong idea by the present offered, so they'd stopped in on a twenty-four hour corner store, guessing that anywhere else would be closed. They'd perused the isles, not finding anything better than a rubber chicken holding a kunai with a menacing look on its plastic, feathery face. Ino had shrugged and slapped a decorative bow on its stomach, making it squawk indignantly, before heading to pay and on they had gone again.

"No," Ino protested, pushing her arm away, "I don't want to hand him that. You give it to him."

"Ino," Sakura whined, "please? I'm already super nervous as it is without handing out shitty presents."

Ino shook her head stubbornly. "Nuh-uh."

Sakura glared at her. "You suck." Shen then headed towards the entrance.

Once inside, Sakura was immediately overwhelmed by the press of bodies and loud music. They were mostly people she recognized, Sakura realized, as Kiba waved at her and she blinked through the smoke. She felt Ino at her back and they started pushing through the throng, trying to reach the bar and grab a drink.

"Where is Hiro supposed to be meeting us?" Sakura asked Ino in a shout. Sakura had asked earlier if Ino had invited her boyfriend, but Ino had only replied with a nonchalant tone that she'd broken up with him the week before.

Ino shrugged her response and started looking around the crowded building in search of the guy.

They reached the bar after much pushes and shoving, to find Genma conveniently there, leaning up against the counter…talking to Kakashi.

Sakura plastered on a smile and marched over with her rubber chicken. Ino was right next to her.

"Genma," Sakura grinned, "happy birthday! Here, this is from me." She shoved the chicken in his hand and then quickly dug in her purse and shoved a bunch of condoms in his hand. "And these are from Ino," she chirped brightly. Sakura was trying her best to ignore Kakashi, but she did see the way his eyebrows almost disappeared in his hairline when she handed the presents over.

Ino dug her elbow into Sakura's side. "Sakura, you bitch!"

Sakura shot her her best innocent face.

Genma laughed uproariously. "Thank you, ladies, but you know the only present I need is your beautiful presence here at my party." He gave them a toothy lopsided grin.

Ino and Sakura both rolled their eyes at the lame compliment.

"Hello, Kakashi-sensei," Ino greeted, mischievous glint in her eye, "Sakura thinks you have a great a—"

Oh, hell no.

Sakura barreled into Ino without so much as another glance back and forced her back into the crowd, not letting her finish her sentence.

They ran into Naruto on the way to a booth. Hinata stood next to him, looking pretty in a modest purple dress that hugged her curves in the right places. She spotted Sasuke behind Naruto, probably using him as a shield from the crowd, and looking like he was in hell.

"Sakura," Naruto grinned, "you're here!"

"Hello, Sakura," Hinata said, though Sakura had to mostly read her lips because her voice didn't carry far in the noise, "Ino."

"Hi, guys," Sakura greeted in return, which Ino reciprocated.

"Do you guys want a drink? We were just heading over there," Naruto asked.

Sakura, being annoyingly jostled by people, responded, "No thanks, we have to find someone first."

Naruto only grinned again, "Okay, see you later then." And pushed forward with Hinata. Sakura shot Sasuke a pitying look as he passed by.

Ino and Sakura arrived at a booth, mostly unscathed, and Sakura took a seat gratefully—these heels were already killing her.

Ino started waving enthusiastically to someone in the crowd. "Hiro! Hiro, over here!"

Sakura watched as a tall dark-haired man approached their table through the smoke.

Sakura had to admit Ino was right: he was cute. Hiro walked towards them with long, muscled limbs and a bright grin the expression on a pleasant face. He was dressed tastefully and midnight blue eyes met hers as he finally arrived.

"Hello, Ino," Hiro replied, he nodded pleasantly to Sakura.

"Hiro, this is Sakura. Sakura this is Hiro," Ino giddily introduced the two. "Now I'm going to skedaddle so you two can get to know each other better." Ino gave Sakura and Hiro a very exaggerated wink and then flounced away.

Hiro turned to Sakura and shook her hand. His blue eyes looked at her appreciatively as he did so. "It's nice to meet you, Sakura. I've heard a lot about you."

Sakura guessed he liked what he saw, because he sat next to her, close enough to touch her leg with his.

He had a very nice smile.

Sakura smiled back. "It's nice to meet you, too, Hiro."

…

Did…did Sakura always carry around that many condoms with her?

Kakashi sat on his bar stool a little alarmed as he watched the two kunoichis walk away—well, Sakura shoving and Ino walking so as not to fall over.

And her dress—he'd never seen her wear anything even remotely as short as the dress she wore now. Not that he didn't appreciate the choice of outfit.

…He just didn't appreciate the way Genma's eyes roved her rear as she walked away. Kakashi supposed he had been looking at Sakura's friend, Ino, too, but he wasn't much bothered by _that_.

Genma turned back to Kakashi, shoving condom's and chicken into one of his pockets. He grinned at Kakashi when he met his glaring gaze. "Hey man, just admiring beautiful woman. Don't get grouchy on me, it's my birthday."

"Keep your hands to yourself," Kakashi warned, turning back to his cup of sake. Sure Sakura was allowed to be with whomever she wanted, but…not Genma. Kakashi shuddered into his cup at the thought.

Two bodies jostled his as he heard another loud voice at his back. "Hey, Genma, happy birthday!" Naruto shouted, before acknowledging Kakashi with a smile. Sasuke stood at his side, brooding and only nodded at the two. For, once, Kakashi completely understood the Uchiha—Kakashi hated parties. Hinata stood to the side, ordering a drink.

Kakashi saw Yamato in the crowd and waved him over.

"Didn't think I'd see you here, Senpai," Yamato said as he settled next to him and signaled for the bartender.

"Well," Kakashi explained, "Genma threatened to never talk to me again if I didn't come, which is fine by me, but then he reminded me there would be free alcohol, and so here I am."

Yamato nodded in agreement. "Exactly."

Sai was spotted a few minutes later, being accosted by a touchy brunette who was whispering fiercely in his ear.

Kakashi watched as Sai blinked, intrigued by some new social hierarchy no doubt, and then addressed her, "I must ask first: are you referring to sexual intercourse with your many innuendos? I ask only because last time I inferred this conclusion of another women, she slapped me."

The sake going down his throat burned as Kakashi choked on a portion of it, trying not to laugh. He always admired Sai's lack of social skills though he tried his best not to laugh when the ex-root member said something abnormally hilarious.

Naruto, Kakashi knew by the way he heard a boisterous laugh at his side, had no reservations.

Naruto set down his drink and walked over to Sai and the girl who now wore a funny look about her face. Naruto patted Sai on the shoulder with a big grin and addressed the girl, "Don't go there, trust me." He then steered Sai over in their direction.

Sai nodded calmly to all of the people around the bar, not at all bothered by what had just happened. Yamato offered him a drink and he gladly accepted it.

Genma had moved on to mingle with other party-goers wanting to wish him happy birthday and Kakashi, not in the mood for small talk stayed silent with Yamato following his lead. Naruto talked to Hinata animatedly, sometimes flashing her his goofy grin, making her blush furiously. Kakashi grimaced; sure he was happy for them, but the excess of sweetness was too much for his bitter mind.

"Is Sakura here?" Yamato suddenly asked.

Kakashi grimaced again; he didn't want to think about Sakura. Yesterday's events were still fresh in his mind and Kakashi had absolutely no clue how to decipher them…and she'd kissed him. Was that just how she expressed gratitude? Would she have done the same to Naruto had she the opportunity? Although, the way she'd looked at him yesterday when he'd asked if he could help in any way had almost been…no, couldn't be right.

She just couldn't. Not with him.

Kakashi cleared his throat, wishing he could clear his mind just as easily and answered Yamato, "Yes, I saw her earlier," and that was all he said about it until…

"Hey, who's that guy talking to Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

Kakashi swiveled his head, following Naruto's narrowed gaze to find Sakura looking absolutely cozy with some schmoe in a dark booth. Kakashi fought hard against the clenching of his hands, but he did let his teeth grit together as he saw Sakura laugh delightfully at something that boy had said. Kakashi turned back around, trying to keep himself in check because he knew Sakura probably had relationships and boyfriends and she was perfectly allowed to, but he had never been so blatantly subjected to it before—she had always been so secretive about the whole thing.

Kakashi kept his gaze trained on his cup, but he saw the others observing the two in question.

"Hm," Naruto said, mischievous underlying tone present, "should we go mess with him?"

Kakashi knew Naruto still viewed Sakura as vulnerable to certain aspects of life, and as such, he was still very protective of her, something Kakashi knew annoyed Sakura extremely. Kakashi also observed Sasuke's reaction because he was very curious about how he would take the latest turn of events.

Sasuke stood, eyeing Sakura and her companion through narrowed eyes and lips hardened into a thin line.

Hm, Kakashi didn't know what to make of that expression, but he wouldn't be opposed if those two decided to go over and intervene.

Yamato didn't really seem to care and turned back to his drink which obviously provided more interest. Sai eyed Sakura, too, calculating as always.

"Don't you fucking dare, Naruto!" barked Ino's voice as she stalked towards them. Reaching Naruto, she shook her index finger at him. "If you—any of you!—so much as take one step in their direction, I will kill all of you…violently! Let Sakura have fun, dammit, all she ever does is work."

"Yes, Naruto-kun," came Hinata's sweet voice, "they look like their having a great time."

Naruto only wrinkled his nose at Ino. "This is your doing? Did you set them up?"

Ino placed her hands on her hips defiantly. "And if I did?"

Ino had always rubbed Kakashi slightly the wrong way (was she too loud? Abrasive?) and now he knew exactly why.

Ino and Naruto started bickering and Kakashi hoped they would hurry because if he was going to go disrupt the merry-making going on in that booth, then he should hurry and get on with it. Kami knew Kakashi wasn't going to do anything about it for fear of revealing what should not be revealed, even though jealousy burned away at the pit of his stomach.

While they argued, a presence invaded Kakashi's space as they leaned over to catch the bartender's attention. Kakashi only half curious, glanced sideways only for his stomach to jolt unpleasantly; it was the schmoe.

Naruto went quiet once he realized who had arrived, and stared hard at the guy. Yamato, Sasuke, and Sai also regarded him with blatant stares.

The guy happily ordered two drinks oblivious to the stares until something must have tipped him off and he turned slowly to blink at the five men staring at him, on guard with all the attention concentrated on him.

They stared at each other in a most intense no-blinking contest, until the guy finally turned back to face the front of the bar clearing his throat awkwardly.

Ino stepped in then, catching his attention. "Hiro! Ignore them. They have issues. How's it going with Sakura?"

The guy, Hiro, grinned. "Great, Ino! Sakura's as amazing as you said she is, thanks for arranging this."

Ino clapped her hands once, voice as sweet as honey, "Awesome! Just remember though," her voice dropped a few octaves and her voice became cloyingly malicious, "I will fuck you up if you hurt her, okay?"

To his credit the Hiro guy only swallowed nervously once, before he nodded resolutely once. "Understood." He then grabbed the drinks and made his way back towards Sakura.

Kakashi pondered; maybe Ino wasn't so bad.

She turned back to Naruto, arms stiffly crossed. "Did you think I would introduce my best friend to just any random man? Hiro's a nice guy and if you would get your head out of your ass for a minute you would notice Sakura is alone a lot and I don't think it's good for her."

Kakashi swallowed guiltily and he saw Naruto look down properly chastised. The others wore looks of contriteness as well.

Kakashi bottled his thoughts and stared at his sake.

…

Sakura had to admit that she was having fun…but there was something _more_ that was missing and she was kinda pissed at herself for feeling that way. Also, more subconsciously than not, Sakura found her head swiveling in Kakashi's direction when the thick crowd allowed the view of him.

Hiro was nice, funny, good-looking, and he had a killer smile, but damn it all if that wasn't enough.

Sakura largely suspected these ludicrous feelings were part of the reason she just couldn't seem to make a relationship last. These men just weren't the ones for her—and she'd never admit this ridiculous thought, but a part of her still hoped that if a right guy came along, she would just know it.

Sakura mentally squared her shoulders; she had come here tonight with a mission and like the good kunoichi that she was, she would see it completed.

Hiro handed her another drink and Sakura only half-listening, laughed because he had been staring at her expectantly, as if awaiting her reaction.

Her laughter seemed to be the right expression, because he smiled sweetly and took a sip of his drink.

Following his lead, Sakura tipped her glass against her lips as the pleasantly fruity flavor of the alcohol hit her tongue. Sakura pursed her lips, contemplating the new flavor of this one and then lazily realizing she had lost count of how many she'd actually downed. Normally (or when she felt like it, really) Sakura would metabolize the alcohol running through her veins, but right now, she was enjoying the lightness of her mind and body.

Not keeping track of time, Sakura looked around to find the bar considerably less occupied than it had been before, so much so that she could clearly see Kakashi's slouched form still at the bar. Sakura frowned in his direction, making a decision…

…or rather two.

The first was to stop drinking, because if she was going to do this, she didn't want to be completely nobbled and she still felt stable enough. The second decision…

Sakura turned to Hiro, who had placed his hand on her leg at least half an hour ago, and whispered in what she hoped was a low, seductive voice, "You wanna get out of here?"

…

After Ino's reprimand, the atmosphere around the group at the bar had lessened.

Sasuke, with another glance at Sakura, had announced he was going home and then promptly slipped out. Naruto had asked Hinata to dance and Kakashi hadn't seen them since then. Sai, Kakashi had discovered, was a lightweight and only after her had lay his head down on the counter and started drooling slightly, had Yamato graciously volunteered to take him home.

Downing his last bit of sake, Kakashi decided that he should probably be heading home, too, and chanced one more glance in Sakura's direction, just to torment himself, to find the two scooting out of the booth and heading out together.

Kakashi's hand clenched against his knee; perfect timing, as damn usual. He bounced his knee and decided to give the two a head start so Kakashi wouldn't do anything foolish.

Kami knew he'd had enough of foolishness to last him a lifetime.

…

Sakura couldn't quite remember just how Hiro and she had put themselves in the position they were currently in. All she could think about right then was the feel of his lips against hers and how her back was digging almost painfully against the brick wall of the alleyway next to the bar that they currently found themselves in.

His kisses felt nice, Sakura thought to herself weighing the feel of his lips with the few experiences she'd had before, but maybe he didn't have to squeeze her so hard against the wall. After that thought, Sakura mentally kicked herself, she was supposed to be enjoying this, dammit, not thinking about, well, anything!

Sakura huffed through her nose, since her mouth was currently occupied and tried harder.

She could do this.

…

Kakashi exited the stuffy bar and walked into a pleasantly balmy summer night, fully intending to go straight home and then to bed, before he heard a strange noise to his left. Kakashi turned to observe the shadowed alleyway only to freeze in horror.

Shit.

Even though he could not see her face, that pink hair was the only familiar aspect of Sakura that he needed to identify her.

Acid bubbled in the pit of his stomach, because the only reason he couldn't see her face was due to that boy being stuck to her.

Didn't matter though, Kakashi thought, taking a deep breath. He would _not_ do anything about it.

…

Just when Sakura was starting to get into it, Hiro abruptly pulled away…

…Or rather, was pulled away. One moment he was there and the next he wasn't.

Sakura opened her eyes, disoriented at the abruptly cold and empty space in front of her and looked around. Her eyes adjusted to the scene before her, but her mind took a bit longer to process the images.

That was Kakashi standing right in front of her.

Damn, she didn't think she had drank that much. Was she that far gone that she was imagining him instead?

No, wait. Hiro was standing there, too, glaring at Kakashi.

What the…?

"Leave," Kakashi said in his lowest, most dangerous voice.

Hiro paled slightly at the look on Kakashi's face, but seemed resolute, "What do—?,"

Kakashi cut him off, "Now."

Hiro swallowed nervously—Sakura knew how frightening Kakashi could be when he wanted to be and didn't blame him—and keeping his gaze on Kakashi, he addressed Sakura, "I'll, uh, see you later, Sakura, alright?" And before Sakura could respond, he had hightailed it out of there, nowhere to be seen.

"But, I," Sakura mumbled in dejection, "Okay…"

Kakashi was still there, watching her.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Sakura shouted at him, grasping hold onto her anger firmly.

He just kept watching her, gaze as neutrally stasis like fucking usual.

Sakura pointed a finger at him, about to let him have the mother of all mother's, but before she could, he had grabbed the hand she had outstretched by her wrist and started dragging her along behind him.

Sakura sighed, wanting to kick herself, because where he touched her felt awesome to her still buzzing body. She should be freeing herself, dammit!

Sakura regarded his large warm hand encircling her wrist, feeling foolishly bold with her body still humming with alcohol. She started metabolizing it.

As she let him drag her along, Sakura asked, "Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you to your apartment," Kakashi gruffly answered.

Sakura laughed scathingly, "Good. I know where Hiro lives anyway." Total lie. She just wanted to get under his skin, because obviously Kakashi had been bothered by them in the position they had been in.

Kakashi abruptly turned towards a different direction.

Sakura protested with an exasperated groan, "Where are we going now?"

"To my apartment," he simply replied.

Surprisingly, now that most of the alcohol had left her body, she still felt unusually bold.

"That's fine, too," she answered under her breath. "Let me go."

He glanced back at her briefly with his lone dark eye. "No, you're drunk."

"No, I'm not," she protested.

He didn't deign to answer her or talk to her anymore and stayed silent until they had reached his apartment and he had herded her through the door. Kakshi stayed, standing stiffly by the door while Sakura gave him a wide berth, noticing that aura that screamed tightly laced danger surrounding him.

He locked the door behind him and didn't meet her gaze. "You can sleep on the couch."

Sakura got angry all over again. Why should she have to sleep on the couch? He's the one who had dragged her here. "No," she spit back, defiant.

Kakashi abruptly met her gaze and the look he gave her made Sakura stumble back onto the couch in astonishment: his eyes pierced her with the most intense look he had ever given her, almost hungry in a way.

"You know," he started, "out of everyone in the group, I thought you were the smartest, but maybe I was wrong."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Sakura retorted, refusing to be rendered speechless by the intensity of his stare. Fuck everything, she was mad! He had no right.

Kakashi answered bitingly, but voice still low and dangerous, "You were about to let that boy take you in an alleyway without any thought of the repercussions."

"Oh, the repercussions were thought of," Sakura shot back, "that's what these were for!" She had reached into her purse and threw a handful of condoms at him, catching him mostly in the chest with the small packages.

Kakashi only blinked at them and Sakura almost shrieked in frustration, wanting to go and rip the mask from his face because he hid so well behind it. It was infuriating!

Heat filled her whole body as her anger increased in increments. "You had no right to take me from there. I'm a grown woman and believe it or not, I'm allowed to do whatever and whoever the fuck I want!"

"That boy doesn't even know what to do with his own dick," he replied, voice cold.

Sakura's mouth hung slightly open at his last statement, never having had such a conversation with him that lead to such a topic, hell, they had barely even argued beyond their general bickering and here they were with Sakura shouting at him and Kakashi replying in a cold voice.

Surprisingly to Sakura, she was more turned on than ever.

She stared at him from across his coffee table, breathing hard and shallow. Kakashi stared back, gaze unfaltering.

Sakura's shoulders slumped and she then found herself with all the anger drained from her in one go.

She sighed in despondence and said weakly, while picking at the couch, "I just wanted a man to touch me like you touched that woman the other day." She glanced at him then to find he had frozen with his gaze wide. "Yes, I saw. You know I did. Maybe you should, lock your door, or, you know, learn how to answer it." She kept staring at him, trying to let on more than she had said.

He seemed to understand because he rubbed one hand down his face as if tired.

"I can't be that man, Sakura," he said, voice strained.

"Why not?"

…

 **A/N:** Hope you guys enjoyed!

Constructive and/or nicer reviews are always appreciated ^_^


	7. Ready or Not

**A/N:** AAAAHHHHH! IT'S BEEN SEVEN MONTHS, I'M SORRY.

On another unrelated note though, the world is a really shitty place right now and it's really brought me down. Doesn't mean I'm gonna take anything lying down though. I'll keep fighting.

To those of you having a tough time right now, I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes:

"Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing" –Arundhati Roy

Anyway, back to the story! I shifted some things around, so if some part of the story doesn't seem to fit, please tell me and I'll fix it (this goes for the rest of the chapters in this story too). I'll try to post another very, very soon, because I didn't realize how much I had actually written. Proofreading's a bitch, though...and I'm not very good at it.

Ready or Not

 _"And I can't turn my back,_

 _It's too late, ready or not at all"_

There it was. She had said it.

Why not? He thought, while her answer bounced around in his head. _Why not?_

Was there even one plausible reason that he shouldn't take her right at that moment? On his life, he couldn't find a reason why he shouldn't.

Fuck, what was wrong with him?

He shouldn't have dragged her from that boy, but it had been as if his mind and actions had been two separate beings at the time that he couldn't control.

And the way he had spoken to her…? Kami, he couldn't think straight. Something was happening, shifting, and now they couldn't be the same.

…

There was no way she would have said what she had if she wasn't sure Kakashi didn't at least feel some sort of attraction to her (Thursday's session had sort of solidified that thought, no?); she wouldn't have had the courage to even look him in the eye if such weren't the case. Sakura knew what she wanted from him and at least she was brave enough to ask for it, which was more then he could admit to.

Sakura wanted this from him and _that_ she was sure of. She knew it was stupid and foolish and so many other kinds of wrong because she might ruin what little bit of friendship they could still hold on to, but at that moment she couldn't care less to think about why she shouldn't do this with him.

Sakura still stared at him, and she was not going to look away until he gave her an answer. Through the fabric of his mask that stretched to his neck, she saw him swallow, though his gaze stayed the same, relaying no emotion.

"I just can't, Sakura," was what he answered, finally looking away, shoulders slouching even more.

Sakura pursed her lips, anger getting the best of her again. He was withdrawing again and she couldn't figure out why and that fact was making her angry, because if she let him, he wouldn't talk to her for another year, like he had done last time.

Sakura stood, making her way past him, to his front door. She knew what would get a rise out of him and she would get a reaction out of him no matter what. Sakura wouldn't let this be the last conversation they had for another year.

She knew she was treading on dangerous territory, but she was tired of tiptoeing around what she wanted.

Or maybe…

He really just didn't want her that way.

Was she misreading the situation? Picking at something that he might not even feel towards her and making a complete fool of herself?

Rejection washed through Sakura in one hot wave, causing her eyes to sting. Oh kami, what was she doing?

Kakashi would never talk to her again after this. He probably didn't even see her as a woman and taking her away from Hiro was maybe only because he _was_ trying to do what he thought was protecting his former student. And here she was practically throwing herself at him.

As she brushed past him she said in a clipped tone, "Fine. At least I know someone who's willing, since you're not—,"

Sakura's words were cut off, and path obstructed, when Kakashi abruptly herded her against the wall next to the door, putting his arms on either side of her shoulders.

Her breath was short and her heart raced, galloping away in her chest as if looking for escape. His scent invaded her senses. Slow, curling tendrils of a woodsy smell and hints of the strong rice liquor found her nose as she inhaled. She stared hard at his chest, not yet having the courage to lift her gaze to his.

Ever so slowly, Sakura raised her gaze to look into his dark eyes, trepidation building in her chest at what she would find.

He was looking at her like he had before—as if he needed her in a way that was all new to her. Hooded eyes, and a deep sense of charged air between them had her body alive and humming in a way that had nothing to do with the trace amount of liquor still running through her veins.

Kakashi's body was almost pressed flush against hers, except for his bottom half and she had a self-satisfied reason as to why that maybe was.

His heavy-lidded, dark eye, regarded her with a sharp stare as he said, voice low like a loving caress, "You don't even know what you're asking for."

Sakura lifted her chin obstinately, stubborn gaze clashing with his, "I know _exactly_ what I'm asking for."

She didn't wait for him to react then—with him, she knew she had to act fast if she was going to get anywhere.

Sakura reached for his face, pulling his mask down in one quick flash before rearing forward to catch his lips with hers.

Or she would have if he hadn't turned his head at the last second.

" _Why_?" Sakura cried in exasperation. "If you don't want to then just tell me and stop playing with me!"

He gave her a smile as if she were being silly and Sakura, exhausted, was about to forcibly push him away, before he lowered his head and placed his warm lips on her neck.

Sakura's breathe stuttered as she felt his lips close in on the pulse thudding erratically on her neck. His lips were chapped, but she felt the sensation even more against the sensitive skin. He sucked and his tongue swirled in mesmerizing patterns across her skin, bringing her into frenzy with her hands grasping his hair and back arching into the heat of Kakashi's body.

Yes.

 _This_ is what she wanted.

Nothing was wrong in that moment as long as he kept touching her.

Sakura opened sluggish eyelids one she realized he had stopped. She matched his stare with her glazed one, realizing he had been waiting for her to do so.

Sakura kept her eyes locked with his as he removed his left arm from the wall and placed it on her shoulder, so agonizingly slowly pushing down the strap of her dress. He looked to her as if challenging her, daring her to back down as warm, calloused skin brushed her bare shoulder and trailed down until he reached the top of her right breast.

Bang, bang, bang!

The door next to them shuddered and vibrated with the force of someone knocking.

Sakura, breath labored, stared at Kakashi with wide eyes as he stared back, his own eyes bright and frenzied. His calloused hand still rested just atop her right breast, finger pads pressing insistently against her skin. The length of his body he kept flush against her and she wondered if he was as unwilling to pull away as she was.

"Kakashi-sensei!" shouted an obviously inebriated Naruto from the other side of the door. "Sensei, I…What was it again? Oh yeah! I can't find my apartment! Sensei! Sensei! Sensei! Open the door!" Naruto fell quiet on the other side of the door for a moment until he spoke again, voice lowered and almost hushed, "Whoa, look, it's a cat…Hello, cat…" They then heard another, less intense, thud against the door.

If Sakura had to guess, she would bet that if they opened the door at that time, Naruto would be slumped against the doorframe, barely conscious.

Kakashi sighed in frustration, his breath brushing across her face in a sake-smelling cloud.

He pulled their bodies apart in one quick motion, making Sakura hurry to catch her senses so she could stand on her own two feet without his help. Kakashi didn't glance her way, but turned his back to her, running his hands through his hair to bring its usual styled chaotic mess about again and tugged his mask on.

"Are you going to let him in?" Sakura asked almost in a whisper, using the wall behind her for support, because she was still a bit wobbly on her feet and was disoriented from the sudden empty air in front of her. Of course, she knew Kakashi would let him in, but half of her hoped he would shake his head and come back to her again.

Kakashi turned to regard her briefly, eye unreadable in the dark apartment, before he nodded once, eyes shifting away just as fast as they had turned to regard her.

Sakura swallowed, taking deep breaths before pushing herself off the wall and straightening her dress. Her breast had been threatening to pop out and if it hadn't been for Naruto's interruption, she and Kakashi would have been in a very different, more interesting position at that moment.

"Right," she stated, her brain lacking enough oxygen at the moment to form a better, more cohesive statement. "Okay…" her stunning use of eloquence continued.

Kakashi glanced her way once more before he headed toward the door with quick strides.

Sakura had unlatched and was climbing out his window in a flash before Kakashi had even fully opened the door.

…

Sakura awoke the next day, unrested and grumpy thanks to the restless thoughts that had plagued her mind from last night. Of what almost had occurred.

She wondered for the hundredth time whether Kakashi now felt relieved for the interruption or angry. Was he perhaps grateful that their roaming actions had been stopped and a great mistake had been avoided? Had the realization dawned on him that the person standing outside the door was Naruto and the complication of their relationship with the rest of their teammates? Well, as for her, she could have kicked Naruto for his unwelcome arrival.

Her questions and hesitations went round and round her mind making her mind feel dizzy and oddly, mentally full.

Had he been too drunk? …But he hadn't seemed drunk—seemingly sure-footed and walking straight as he had been last night—and she knew Kakashi wouldn't have touched her in any way if he hadn't had actual true intent and feeling behind his actions. He wouldn't have touched her unless he was convinced she in turn hadn't wanted his touch.

…She also didn't think she was imagining the tension in their relationship for the past few weeks. There was something between them that Kakashi was unwilling to clarify.

Sakura stuffed her face into the pillow and scrunched her eyes shut against the darkness. She was driving herself crazy.

After some very strong coffee and browned toast, Sakura sat at her kitchen table, trying to decide what to do next. To be certain, she and Kakashi were going to have to talk about what had happened, no matter how awkward that conversation would be. Sakura had thought she'd screwed everything with the kiss she'd given him before, but now she was in for it.

As she pondered, there came a knock at her door.

Could it be…?

Sakura jumped from her seat and rushed to the door, remembering to try to flatten her hair as she went, before twisting the nob and pulling the door open. Early morning light greeting her along with Ino's grinning face.

Sakura tried not to let her shoulders slump in disappointment.

Ino pushed past her and marched over to the couch, sitting with an air of giddiness.

Ino grinned and patted the couch, prompting Sakura to sit beside her. "So? How was Hiro? Tell me, tell me! I want to know everything!"

Hiro? Who was…? Oh.

Sakura went to sit next to her, feeling conflicted, because she really wanted to talk to her best friend about what had happened last night but at the same time she didn't want to say anything at all. When the situation really mattered and called for it, she knew Ino could keep a secret for her sake, but that wasn't the problem.

Ino kept asking questions. "I'm assuming Hiro took you to his house? Did you tell him you were a virgin before? Why are you here so early? Oh, Kami! Is he here right now in your room?"

Sakura interrupted her, "I—, uh, it wasn't—, I mean, I didn't, not with Hiro." She met Ino's eyes again.

At first, confusion flashed through her gaze before it merged into anger. Ino clamped a hand tightly on Sakura's arm. "Did he do something?" she asked, voice dangerously low.

Sakura shook her head, knowing that if she didn't set the record straight, Ino would go pummel Hiro's poor face in on her behalf. Sakura let her know he had done nothing wrong, "No! Hiro didn't do anything to me that I didn't want him to. It's just… nothing happened." That statement was about as vague as she could put it.

Ino released her and sat back looking at Sakura with puzzlement again. "Then who or what happened?"

Sakura shook her head. "Nobody and nothing. Nothing happened. I-uh, I just said goodbye to Hiro last night and then we went our separate ways. That was it. Guess I couldn't go through with it after all, huh?"

Ino regarded her with suspicion, head cocked to the side and eyes boring into Sakura. Her searching expression was obvious enough to her disbelief in Sakura. Ino was like a bloodhound geared towards sniffing secrets from an individual.

But Sakura wasn't about to tell her best friend that instead of ending the night with Hiro, she'd willingly gone with Kakashi instead and he'd groped her for a while. She needed to keep that secret a bit longer—until Sakura figured out how to deal with her and Kakashi's shifting relationship.

Sakura shifted her gaze from Ino's almighty one, uncomfortable. "Do you want some coffee or something? I have toast too…" she cleared her throat awkwardly.

"Cut the shit, Sakura," Ino retorted, snippily. "I know you're not telling me something. Spill."

Sakura groaned and slumped over on her couch, butt pointed towards Ino courtesy to her current position. She felt a sharp pinch on her upper thigh, making her bolt back into a sitting position. She glared at Ino, who glared back.

"No," Sakura simply said.

Ino's glare intensified.

Sakura shook he head, adamant.

Ino's glare changed to a pout. "Come ooooon," she whined. "What's so bad that you can't tell even me, huh?"

Sakura pursed her lips, considering Ino's word. "It's not _bad_ , I just can't tell you right now."

" _You can't tell me right now?_ " Ino repeated, incredulously. "Of course you can tell me right now, just open your mouth and say it! Does it have to do with Hiro? What the hell, Sakura?"

"It doesn't have to do with Hiro, so don't go harass him. I'm telling you the truth when I say that nothing happened between us besides a hasty kiss," Sakura said, worrying her sleeping shirt between two anxious fingers. She didn't want to look at Ino, knowing she'd see a woman on the verge of exploding with curiosity and indignant. Ino had a habit of wheedling Sakura down until she relented, but that was not gonna happen today!

"You kissed him? Are you guys gonna go out again then?" Ino shouldered on, unrelenting.

"No, I don't think there's going to be a second date honestly," Sakura said, throwing Ino a bone because she knew Ino wouldn't stop until she gobbled up something. "Now, please, _please_ , leave it alone. Okay?" She finished her sentence with eye contact, wanting Ino to know that she was serious.

Ino glared once more at her before she throwing herself back onto the couch arms stiffly crossed and expression brooding. "Fine. I'll leave it alone…for now."

There was a small tense silence in which a petulant Ino gave her the cold shoulder. Then…

"You wanna go eat breakfast?" Ino suggested.

Sakura nodded sagely. "I'll pay."

Ino's face brightened even more and she grinned again.

Sakura's only reply was to roll her eyes in exasperation.

…

Sakura had gone hunting for Kakashi after she and Ino had parted ways Sunday afternoon after breakfast, to no avail. She couldn't fucking find him anywhere, the bastard!

It was only until she'd bumped into Naruto and he'd told her that Kakashi had left for a mission with Yamato just after he'd kicked Hung-Over Naruto out of his apartment that Sakura had brooded her way all the way back to her apartment. She had indulged herself in a little self-stew of restless thoughts and emotions once arriving.

Monday morning and afternoon had passed with Sakura training and then a long cool shower afterword's. She'd made herself dinner that evening, ate it, washed her dishes, read a bit, and was currently sitting watching her soap.

Damn, was she pathetic or what?

Whatever! What was wrong with a calm life anyway, hm? Sakura thought to herself, then, once realizing she was arguing with herself within her own head, she hastily shoved a spoonful of caramel ice cream into her mouth to keep her thoughts occupied on other matters. Like maybe a brain-freeze.

Just as Ronaldo had been about to have a swashbuckling sword fight with his ultimate nemesis, while a kidnapped Camilla cried and exclaimed behind him, there came an urgent knock at her door.

With an impatient huff, Sakura set aside her ice cream and stood, walking over to her door, while keeping one eye on the television. She opened it to find a flustered Shiro, a secretary from the hospital, standing at her doorway somewhat breathless.

"Shiro?" Sakura asked, concerned by the flush to his face.

"Sakura-san," Shiro replied, voice wheezy from his journey, "I'm sorry to bother you, but there's a problem at the hospital that requires your immediate attention, please."

Sakura, confused, informed him, "I'm sure you know that Hokage-sama has banned me from the hospital until about a week from now? Mandatory vacation and all that."

Shiro grimaced and looked to her with apologetic green eyes. "Yes, Haruno-san, but this concerns Hatake Kakashi. He was brought to us a few moments ago by your teammates with injuries not yet identified because he won't let anyone heal him!" By the end of Shiro's sentence, his voice had raised a few octaves in obvious frustration and his color had darkened again. "I'm sorry for the intrusion into your quiet evening, but he won't let anyone heal him but you. Your teammates tried to convince him but he remains obstinate."

After Shiro had explained the rest and her heart had left her throat to be in its rightful place again, Sakura almost groaned in exasperation. Of course Kakashi would be difficult: what other quality about this stubborn, stupid man that she had known a great chunk of her life would make her think that he would act any different?

Before, no matter that he hadn't even really spoken to her, Kakashi had always gone to her when he'd received an injury from a mission or otherwise. Maybe she shouldn't have given him special treatment, like giving him extra jello. Now he felt entitled.

Sakura quickly told Shiro there was no need to apologize, for Kakashi's behavior wasn't his fault, before instructing him to head back to the hospital. Shiro left her doorstep grumbling, while Sakura contemplated her attire for a nanosecond, deciding sweat pants and a t-shirt weren't that inappropriate. She grabbed a light jacket on her way out, brisk walk turning into a sprint, when she contemplated Kakashi more and that he might be injured more than he let on.

Sakura arrived at the hospital at a dead sprint, hauling the front door open and heading to the ER by staircase, leaping over two at a time as she went.

When she reached the right floor, Sakura glanced at the secretary behind the counter, who only had to take one look at Sakura before silently pointing to the room to the right of Sakura, then going back to her work.

Right.

Sakura wrenched that door open to and walked into the room, breathless and, she was sure, wild-eyed from her mad dash to the hospital.

The room seemed crowded with too many bodies packed inside. She saw Naruto and Sasuke first, and then Yamato with the only one missing was Sai. Tsunade was there, too, holding a bedpan and looking as if she were going to brain Kakashi with it.

The man himself, Kakashi, was lying cool-as-you-please against his pillows, seemingly unperturbed.

"I'm here!" Sakura shouted, not for lack of everyone knowing she was there, because she'd practically busted the door in, but to stop Tsunade who had lifted the bedpan higher to achieve maximum impact.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, throwing a concerned look to Tsunade and Kakashi, "We found Kakashi-sensei stumbling around the village earlier with Yamato-taichou trying to get him to the hospital and I think he was trying to head home, but we brought him here instead even though he was being difficult about it. He won't let anyone else heal him, not even Baa-chan."

"Cretin," Tsunade glowered, but then her expression did a complete one-eighty as her gaze flitted between Sakura and Kakashi. A slow, knowing grin spread across her face.

"Not what you think," Kakashi murmured to her, but Sakura heard nonetheless in the small space that surrounded them.

Sakura pierced Kakashi with her glare, but he only blinked slowly at her.

"The only way I will immediately ignore your petulant behavior is if an alpaca bit you in the ass again," Sakura stated, crossing her arms stiffly. "At least then I can make fun of you."

She'd never actually healed him from such a type of injury, Kakashi had only told her the story back when they used to take frequent mission together and he'd actually talked to her. In fact he'd told her many stories and memories—and not only of amusing things but of beautiful things, too.

"An alpaca bit him in the ass once?" Sasuke asked Sakura, curious. Naruto giggled.

Sakura nodded. "Kakashi, tell them the story."

"An alpaca bit me in the ass once," Kakashi straightforwardly stated.

"That's not how you told me!" Sakura protested.

"Wasn't it?" Kakashi pretended to ponder by shifting his eyes to the ceiling as if thinking. "Hm, I could have sworn it was."

Sakura "gah'ed" in exasperation, letting her arms unfold and fall to her sides.

Yamato scooted closer to Kakashi, worried. "You don't look so good, Senpai," he noted then proceeded to poke him in the side.

Kakashi grimaced and Sakura realized that he hadn't really moved at all since she'd gotten there. Time to get to work.

"Okay, guys, shoo!" Sakura commanded, walking closer to Kakashi, as she passed the boys. They started filing out the door.

"We'll just wait out here," Naruto said, leaving the door open only a crack.

Sakura glance at Tsuande who still had a funny look about her face. Tsunade noticed her stare, and then cleared her throat, setting the bedpan down on the floor.

"I'll, ah, leave it to you, then, Sakura," Tsunade said, looking practically giddy as she backed away, looking excitedly at Sakura and Kakashi.

Had she had too much to drink again? What was with her?

Sakura turned back to Kakashi to see him looking practically stony as he watched Tsunade leave.

Sakura lifted the covers from his body, starting to gather chakra to her hands all in complete silence. She had noticed that he had blood on his mask, but decided to leave that for last as he didn't seem disoriented or dizzy from a head injury.

They had at least gotten him out of his flak jacket and long-sleeved shirt, leaving him in his bare-armed muscle shirt and standard shinobi pants only. Sakura cut the rest of the ruined shirt off, before placing her glowing hands on his taut stomach, closing her eyes so her chakra could seep beneath his skin and find the areas needed to be healed. A fracture to his ribcage, severe bruising, thankfully no internal bleeding and a bruised lung was the extent of his bodily injuries. Kakashi remained still and the perfect patient throughout the healing session.

Sakura withdrew her chakra and then proceeded to reach for his mask, pulling it down to reveal a deep cut on Kakashi's cheek and bruising around his sharringan eye.

"Is this why you didn't want anyone else to heal you?" Sakura murmured, peering at the cut. "You didn't want anyone to pull off your mask?"

Kakashi only stared meekly at her.

As she started healing the simple cut, Sakura's mind drifted to a hollow, frightening place in her mind, as it did whenever Kakashi came to her hurt. Sakura was so frightened that one day he would come to her completely broken and that that would be the day she wouldn't be able to heal him. Her other teammates were more careful, and Naruto had his enhanced healing abilities, but Kakashi always seemed so careless with himself to Sakura.

Sakura hadn't realized she'd furrowed her brow until Kakashi reached for her face and placed his thumb between her brows, rubbing gently to ease her frown. His skin was warn and comforting, like always and she was immediately reminded of Saturday and how he'd touched her then.

"Why do you do this to yourself, Kakashi?" Sakura asked, looking hard into his mismatched eyes—she noticed his sharringan eye was bruised so she carefully started to heal that too, but paused before she finished. "I'm worried that one day, I won't be able to see you again or hear any of your stories, or see you reading your stupid porn books as you walk down the street or spar with you or…" Sakura ran a hand through his tangled mess of hair, feeling pathetic. "You know I'm always here for you, right? No matter what happens between us, I'll always be here." Sakura tried with those words to explain to him that what had happened between them was okay, and that she didn't place the blame on either of them.

Kakashi didn't answer her, only moved his hand to slide his thumb across her bottom lip. He gazed at her with searching eyes, looking for something in her face or expression that would solve a problem for him.

Sakura sighed, a bit frustrated with his silence, and moved his hand away from her face so she could heal the bruising around his eye. She peered at it, analyzing the swelling and the extent of damage before staring the healing process again.

Once done, Sakura took a few stepped back, not touching him anymore because it was doing funny things to her stomach. "Did you lose the ability to talk, too?" Sakura asked, irritated by his lack of response.

Kakashi smiled, showing a flash of teeth as he did so through his lips. Sakura unconsciously bit her lower lip as she stared.

Kakashi smiled wider and finally answered her. "Is the alpaca story your favorite?" he asked, smoothing the covers over his bare chest to Sakura's disappointment.

"Among others," Sakura replied, unable to repress a small smile herself. "You didn't tell the guys that you had to carry around a patted donut with you for a week because you couldn't sit down without your butt hurting."

Kakahsi grinned. "I couldn't tell them—they'd never let me live it down."

Sakura arched a brow speculatively. "And I would?"

Kakashi nodded. "You're not as mean as them and you like me too much to make constant fun of me," he stated matter-of-factly.

An abrupt burst of laughter escaped Sakura. "Is that so?"

Kakashi's smile stayed in place, as he looked at her saying nothing more.

Sakura had unconsciously gotten closer throughout their light conversation, so she was within reaching distance again. Sighing, this time out of lack of ideas of what to do with this man, Sakura placed her hand on his head again. She combed her fingers gently through his hair and then bent at the waist to kiss his forehead softly. Then, first glancing over her shoulder to make sure no one was looking, she turned back and placed her lips on Kakashi's. He didn't react in a startled manner, rather, he seemed to be expecting her lips and responded with a slight pressure of his own.

Sakura didn't go any further and withdrew after closing her eyes for a moment and relishing the feel of his mouth against hers. She wrinkled her nose a bit at the smell of blood on his skin and retrieved an antiseptic cloth so she could wipe the dried blood from his face.

After she had finished and his face was clean, Sakura asked, "Red or green jello?"

Kakashi, no longer smiling, but expression calm and untroubled for once, responded, "Both?"

She nodded once with a small smile and left him lying back against his pillows. "I'll be right back," Sakura assured as she walked towards the door.

Sakura walked out into the quiet hallway to find Naruto half-asleep on a chair, Sasuke sitting staring at a point across the way with his arms crossed, and Yamato reading from a book.

They all looked to her when she exited the room and Naruto was the first to speak, "How is he?"

"He's going to be fine," Sakura answered. "They should release him tomorrow."

Naruto smiled, Sasuke tried to hide his relief with an indifferent façade, and Yamato commended, "Sakura, you could bring back Kakashi from death's clutches if you needed to."

"Thanks, Yamato-taichou," Sakura smiled. "Thanks for staying, guys, but you can go home now. I just have to grab him some jello really quick."

They nodded in agreement, but Naruto paused to ask, "Why'd he only want you to heal him, Sakura?"

Sakura's lips twitched, but she covered the lapse of composure with an airy laugh. "I give him extra jello."

Naruto matched her mirth. "Pfft, Kakashi-sensei is such a baby."

Sakura nodded solemnly, "Yeah."

…

Before leaving Kakashi at the hospital the day before, happily eating jello, Sakura had been sure to tell him she needed another look at his sharringan eye to make sure there was no lasting damage. When dealing with a sharringan, Sakura had very little practice so she wanted to be certain everything was working properly.

She'd asked him to meet her at her apartment at twelve, stressing the "at twelve" part by staring at him sternly, "I actually mean at twelve, Kakashi. I don't have time to be waiting around for you, understand?", "But you're on vacation and I think we've already established you kind of aren't doing anything—", "Kakashi!", then a humble "Okay".

Sakura had then spent the subsequent afternoon fidgeting around her apartment, thinking that it maybe wasn't a very a good idea for them to be alone together at close proximity.

One o' clock came around before there was a knock at her door. Sakura gulped and tried to maintain a cool façade.

She marched over to her door and pulled it open, greeting a blasé Kakashi with pursed lips. "Huh," she started, "it's almost like, oddly enough, one isn't the same as twelve. Weird, right?"

Kakashi pretended to contemplate her philosophy by placing a pensive hand under his chin. He responded with almost as much sarcasm as she had started with. "You know, I think you're onto something here."

"Kakashi!"

He shrugged with a grin. "I was sidetracked by a cat in a tree I just had to save?"

Sakura rolled her eyes and let the subject drop.

She gestured him into her apartment, entirely flippant with the gesture.

Kakashi strolled in casually and stood in the middle of her living room before Sakura told him to take a seat at her kitchen table. He did as she asked (surprisingly) and she followed him, standing right in front of him, slightly short of breath.

Sakura leaned her butt against her tabletop, half-way sitting while feet still remaining firmly on the ground. She leaned forward, but then realized he was still too far away. She asked him to scoot closer, which he did, until he was close enough that she smelled his scent of clean soap and a woodsy smell, until she was in between his legs and he seemed to be caging her in.

"Okay," Sakura breathed, sure she was red. She hadn't needed him that close for the procedure, but she sure as hell wasn't going to protest or ask him to scoot back. Sakura kept her gaze trained on a spot on his forehead.

She leaned forward again, exposing a bit of cleavage—no she hadn't worn a low-cut shirt on purpose!—but his eyes didn't stray from her face. Sakura worked on, ridding her mind momentarily of her issues to focus on inspecting Kakashi's eye. She asked if she could lower his mask, and when he acquiesced, she started by probing her chakra slowly at the sharringan, being cautious with the foreign chakra it exuded. As she worked further in, Sakura looked for signs of left-over damage from the bruising from the day before. She was almost finished when Kakashi started talking.

"I hope I'm not keeping you from other more _pleasant_ company," Kakashi said, being completely obtuse and transparent with his comment.

Sakura cut the crap straight away. "I haven't seen Hiro since you scared him off on Saturday." She emphasized her statement with a jab of her chakra into his left cheek. Startled, Kakashi's hands jerked and were suddenly on her bare knees.

Was it getting harder to breathe again? Maybe she shouldn't have worn a skirt… or maybe she was a genius for wearing a skirt that day.

With her mind and thoughts jumbled, Sakura withdrew her chakra little by little, declaring his eye completely healed. She kept her eyes trained on his left one, trying to be the epitome of professionalism during the process even as his hands inched further towards her thighs. The span of each of his hands covered the width of each leg easily, cupping her lower thighs with warmth.

"Ah, that's too bad," Kakashi murmured, hands still trailing a heated path. "He seemed nice enough." He'd reached the edge of her skirt.

Sakura couldn't keep away a shuddering breath as his index finger slid under the edge of her blue skirt. She had finished her examination moments ago but she hadn't moved her position and her hands stayed on either side of his face. The only body part she had moved were her eyes, which she'd fixed on his lips, watching them move as he talked.

"He was very nice," Sakura whispered as another finger slid under. "But I don't want him, I want someone else."

Another finger. Goosebumps emerged at the sensations his touch indulged.

Could he feel the tremors running through her body?

Kakashi paused, but then continued as his pinkie finger was covered by the cloth of her clothes. "Oh?" He lifted a silver brow. Hands completely covered now and resting snugly on her upper thighs, Kakashi could touch the edge of her panties if only he spread his fingers a little more outward.

There was no mistaking her shallow breathing anymore for anything other than arousal and it was only because she had moved her gaze to watch him watch her intensely that she saw his intention flick across his eyes before he even acted.

Kakashi reared forward and met her lips with his own, standing as he did so and pushing her so her bottom rested completely on the tabletop. There was no hesitation in the manner in which she wrapped her arms and legs around his hard, tightly coiled body.

Kakashi pushed his body insistently against hers, and she couldn't seem to get close enough to him either—she wanted to _feel_ him, skin against skin. She wanted to cling to him and run her fingernails down his bare back as he did things to her that left her completely breathless and overwhelmed. And she wanted this from him, of that she was sure.

Sakura was dizzy, lost and engrossed in the feeling of his tongue tracing the curve of her collar bone while his hands kneaded the fleshy part of her outer thigh where her leg met her rear. She hadn't realized she'd said her last thought out loud until Kakashi paused at her breathy "I want this from you".

He stopped abruptly, hands stilling against her legs and he moved his head from her neck slowly.

…

Kakashi couldn't seem to catch his breath, and it certainly didn't help the situation any more that his pants were _very_ tight at that moment. He was, ever so slowly, processing the situation he and Sakura were currently in and with every passing moment he wanted to kick himself even more because reason was flooding back into his mind like a tsunami.

After Saturday's events, Kakashi had taken Naruto's interruption as a sign—a sign that Sakura should stay off limits and that whatever would have happened between them was not meant to be. Then he'd just had to go get his ass kicked the next day on a mission with Yamato and (he blamed this on his injured, disoriented state) he had, for some reason, fixed his mind on seeing Sakura because he'd been afraid she'd never want to talk to him again after what had happened. Kakashi knew he had been acting petulantly, but the only way he figured that she would come as quickly as possible was if he demanded she, and only she, heal him.

And it had worked, hadn't it?

But then she'd kissed him again and he hadn't even bothered to try to dissuade her, instead he'd received her kiss with no reluctance on his part. Funny thing was, though, for once Kakashi hadn't felt the overwhelming urgency to berate himself for the action as he'd done on numerous occasions before when Sakura was concerned… but maybe that had just been the morphine in his system.

Right now, though, he was feeling guilty again and guilty wasn't a feeling he would house if he ever decided to do this was Sakura.

Kakashi pulled away from Sakura completely, breathing hard, and he tried not to look at how she sat on her table, legs splayed as if awaiting him to fit snugly back in. If he wondered what color underwear she was wearing before, he didn't have to wonder any longer because he caught a glimpse of their frilly blue color as she straightened her skirt to cover more of her legs again.

He didn't want to meet her gaze, didn't want to see the expression etched there because of his reluctance, but he did anyway.

She was hurt. Brow furrowed, Sakura worried kiss-swollen lips between her teeth as she regarded him warily. "What is it? Why do you always pull away?"

"Sakura—I" Kakashi rubbed a hand wearily down his face, "We shouldn't. I—don't you see? There are so many reasons."

Kakashi knew he wasn't the best when it came to articulating, but this was an all-time low for him.

Sakura shook her head and he wasn't sure if she was rejecting his answer or just trying to clear her head. "What reasons? From where I'm standing there isn't a reason _not_ to—right here, right now."

Kakashi almost groaned at her statement. With only words, she threatened to make him fully hard again. "Don't tell me things like that, Sakura. One day I might just take you up on them."

"Good," she said right back, eyes fierce.

"No," Kakashi said, exasperated, "that's not a good thing. I think you can do much better than me." Sakura was starting to look at him with a determination he knew all too well, and he had to leave. "Sakura, I'm going to leave. I'm sorry. I'll see you later, at therapy." Not waiting for her reply and without glancing her way again, Kakashi fled her apartment.

…

When Mino arrived and started the session later that day, Sakura kept her eyes glued on their therapist until almost the end of the block hour. She hadn't even taken in one word of what he had said until the end where he had told them something about cooperation and coordination. He had then proceeded to tell them that he wanted them all to have dinner together on Wednesday evening of the following week, but they each had to actually home-cook a dish.

Surprisingly, this statement went said without many complaints. Even Sasuke didn't make his usual quiet fuss and only hung his head slightly in acceptance.

Once they were freed, like a bunch of children waiting for school to be over, they rushed out of the building and congregated by the front door.

"So," Naruto spoke first, "where are we gonna do this?"

Sakura assumed she meant which place and like everyone else, Sakura cleared her throat and pretended to be very interested on a faraway object—no one wanted to be the host for messy guests.

Naruto, she knew, didn't have near enough room; Sasuke just would not plain do it; Sai only had a studio, too; she had no idea where Yamato lived and no way would Kakashi volunteer.

They were all looking at her expectantly.

Sakura groaned and rolled her eyes. "Fine," she snapped, but pointed a stern finger at them all, "but you're not leaving a mess in my apartment—you're going to help me clean after."

They all nodded vigorously, agreeing to anything she said now that she was the unfortunate hostess.

Sakura shook her head, exasperated. "I'll see you later then."

They all then went on their merry way and Sakura started towards home, but she took only one step before she felt a hand encircle hers. Sakura turned, heart in her throat to find Kakashi staring pensively at her.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, emotions roiling within her. She really hadn't meant to sound so standoffish.

He regarded her with his dark eye. "Are you alright?

No, I'm not alright. You won't even look at me for longer than ten seconds, was what she wanted to say, but she didn't dare.

Sakura gave him a very forced smile. "I'm fine."

Kakashi seemed unconvinced, but he let her go nonetheless. She pretended not to notice the light squeeze his rough hand gave hers before he let go.

…

There was someone knocking on her door again…and the sun had barely risen.

Sakura grouchily yanked her door open, sure that she looked all kinds of gross with her askew hair and torn pajamas to find Naruto's bright face at her doorstep.

"Naruto," Sakura almost growled, "it better not be seven in the fucking morning again."

Naruto grinned some more at her. "It's eight. Jeez, Sakura, you're sure extra eloquent in the morning."

Sakura narrowed her sleep-crusted eyes at him dangerously. "What do you want, Naruto?"

"Teme and I were gonna go grocery shopping for Wednesday's dinner and we were wondering if you would like to come." Naruto gestured behind him and Sakura craned her neck to find Sasuke standing behind him, looking wary at Sakura's discovery of him.

"For the record," Sasuke explained, "I told Naruto that this could have waited until later."

"Yeah," Sakura answered, then looked at Naruto again and badly mimicked his voice from a couple weeks ago. She made her voice high-pitched and whiny, totally not Naruto's steady baritone. "But apparently someone "likes getting up early"."

Naruto's grin only widened.

Sakura sighed in defeat. "Well, since I'm up already, why not? Just give me a minute to change." Sakura walked towards her room, leaving the door open in case they wanted to wait inside.

As Sakura walked down the short hallway to her room, she heard Naruto mutter something to Sasuke that sounded like 'pajama monster' before she heard two sets of sniggers. Sakura swiftly bent to grab a shoe before she chucked it at Naruto, satisfied when it bounced off of his head only to catch Saskue's on the rebound. They rubbed their heads but stopped talking.

It was Sakura's turn to snigger as she closed the door to her room and went about her room to find clothes to change into.

…

Once she was sure no one could dub her pajama monster again, Sakura took her leave of her apartment and followed Naruto and Sasuke out into a pleasantly sunny day. They stopped at a bakery and Sasuke bought her a cinnamon roll and coffee, because she was glaring at Naruto and Sasuke, waiting for one of them to offer since they had woken her so early and then laughed at her.

Sakura, marginally less grouchy, walked in between Sasuke and Naruto down to the bustling market. Sakura sipped her coffee and munched on her pastry, content to lazily walk in the early morning coolness, while Naruto occasionally stole a bite of her cinnamon roll.

Once arriving at the colorful stalls dotting either side of the wide street, Sakura disposed of her trash and grabbed a basket for their groceries.

Naruto and Sasuke followed her as she perused down the stalls, wondering what she was going to cook because she wasn't very good at it in the first place, until something caught Sasuke's attention and he wandered off. Naruto got mesmerized by a stall selling different kinds of ramen, so Sakura left him behind, too.

She stopped at a stall selling fruits, and she stood for a minute, contemplating the many colorful fruits and wondering if she could make a simple fruit salad without somehow setting it on fire even though she would bring the fruit nowhere near an open flame.

As she pursed her lips at a particularly fishy looking apple, Sakura heard a familiar voice next to her.

"Peaches are in season right now, you know. I'd go for them."

Sakura turned with a wide smile on her face "Tamaki! I haven't seen you in the longest time." She gave him a one-armed hug, which he warmly reciprocated.

Tamaki grinned at her with straight teeth and general amiability. "How have you been, Sakura? Busy?"

Sakura made a face. "Uh, not really. I'm kind of on a mandatory vacation right now and it's going by very slowly."

Sakura had to crane her neck to get a good look at Tamaki's face, so she saw the way he grinned amusedly at her, platinum blonde hair shining in the sun. "That's exactly what I'd expect Haruno Sakura to say—you've always been very against idleness."

Sakura shrugged good-naturedly. "You know me well. Was it that time I kicked you in the shin when we were six because you didn't finish the sand castle before the rain came?"

Tamaki guffawed, blues eyes crinkling at the edge. "Yeah, maybe."

"So how have you been, Tamaki? Business still going strong?" asked Sakura, pleasant smile coming naturally and more willingly now that her morning haze had gone.

"Yeah, it's—," Tamaki started, though was interrupted and something was tossed haphazardly in to the basket Sakura was holding.

Sakura looked down to find a bag full of tomatoes, and then she turned to look at Sasuke who stood next to her. "We just can't have tomatoes," she said matter-of-factly.

"I like tomatoes," Sasuke stated and if she didn't know him any better, she'd have thought that his tone took on a bit of a petulant shade. He was staring hard at Tamaki, who looked nonplussed.

"Yeah, but tomatoes by themselves are kinda gross, Sasuke," Sakura stated, stubborn; she was not having some kind of gross tomato mush for dinner. "Make a salad or something—you know, with that green stuff called lettuce." She noticed Tamaki blinking at them. "Oh, ah, Tamaki, this is Uchiha Sasuke, Sasuke this is Hashimoto Tamaki."

Tamaki held out his hand, but Sasuke only blatantly stared at it. Tamaki cleared his throat and withdrew his hand, "I guess not."

Sasuke then turned back to look at Sakura. "Lettuce? Fine, but you're ruining grocery day." Sakura made sure he saw her roll her eyes at him before he was off again.

Sakura turned back to Tamaki with an apologetic smile on her face. "Sorry he's kind of…well, he's Sasuke." She shrugged for lack of a better explanation.

Tamaki smiled. "It's alright, you don't have to explain, Sakura. It must be hard to be reinstated into a village."

"Nah, Sasuke's always just kind of been perpetually moody. Don't take it personally," Sakura half-joked, because she was right in her statement.

Tamaki grinned again.

"Hey, Sakura-chan!" said Naruto's loud voice next to her ear. "Do you think I can get away with making ramen?"

Sakura wrinkled her nose at him. "What kind?"

Naruto chastised, "Don't look at me like that—I can make the good kind, you know, with ham and everything. Whatdya say?"

"Okay," Sakura complied, "that doesn't sound so bad."

Naruto noticed Tamaki staring at them. "Who's this guy?"

"Naruto this is Hashimoto Tamaki, Tamaki this is Uzumaki Naruto."

Tamaki hesitantly held out his hand this time, but unlike Sasuke, Naruto immediately shook it.

Tamaki smiled. "I think the whole village knows who you are, Uzumaki-san, after all you don't save a whole village a couple times and not know that person's name. Though, it's an honor to finally meet you."

Sakura smiled at Tamaki's politeness.

Naruto still shook Tamaki's hand insistently. "Hey man, it's nice to meet you, too! You're not stalking our Sakura-chan are you?"

Sakura's smile slipped.

Tamaki's eyes widened and his smile twitched. "I-excuse me?"

Naruto continued. "Like are you following her around—" Sakura grabbed Naruto's arm and disengaged him from Tamaki.

"Naruto!" Sakura snapped. "You're worse than Sasuke, you idiot. Has your Hokage training taught you nothing about when to shut your mouth?"

"Sure it has, but I'm not Hokage yet, am I?" he winked at her.

Sakura glared back before turning to Tamaki. "I'm sorry, Tamaki. I swear I have normal friends."

Tamaki blinked a few times, completely lost for words.

Sakura winced. "Sorry."

"What's Teme making?" Naruto asked, peering inside Sakura's basket. He seemed unperturbed.

Sakura sighed. "He wanted to make something of just tomatoes, but I told him he had to add something else."

Naruto made a disgusted face and yelled at Sasuke who was on the way back with lettuce, "I'm not eating gross tomato crap!"

Sasuke lifted his chin, arrogant. "I'm not eating gross ramen crap, because I have no doubt that that's what you picked."

"You're gross!" Naruto called back, defending his favorite food.

Sakura tugged on Tamaki's arm and steered him away from her dumbass teammates. "So Tamaki, are you coming to our annual picnic this Friday?"

Tamaki seemed to shake himself of some kind of stupor as he looked at her. "Yes, I believe so. Your mother invited me like every year before this one. I think she somehow believes I will one day sever ties with her company just because we never got married," he joked.

"Well, you know my mom," Sakura said. "Neurotic to the bone." Sakura cleared her throat and gestured behind her where Naruto and Sasuke were having a glaring match. "Pretend you don't know this about me, please."

Tamaki shook his head. "It's okay. They're kind of funny."

Sakura giggled. "Is that what you call it?"

Tamaki shrugged and grinned back.

"Thanks for the tip on the peaches. I'll see you later?"

Tamaki nodded and patted her shoulder. "See you Friday, Sakura."

Sakura waved as he walked off and when he was out of sight, she turned on a dime and gave Sasuke and Naruto her most wicked glare. "What the hell?!"

Sasuke and Naruto stared at her, unapologetic.

Sakura huffed in exasperation and stalked off to look at more stalls.

Once Sasuke and Naruto were sure she had simmered down they approached her as she was studying the items of a certain stall.

"So, Sakura, what are you making?" Naruto cautiously asked.

Sakura eyed a box of one of those easy bake box cakes. She snatched it from the shelf and shoved it under Naruto's nose. "Boxed cake," she stated, "that's how much you guys mean to me."

"That's not really cooking," Sasuke observed.

"Yes it is," Sakura protested, turning the box around to peer at the instructions before shoving it under Sasuke's nose next, "See? I have to add eggs."

…

Managing to shake Naruto and Sasuke off after their grocery shopping, Sakura made her way home again with her purchases to find a gift from the Gods waiting at her doorstep: a letter addressed to her was placed on her doormat, informing her that Thursday's therapy session was canceled. It seemed Mino was sick.

Well, she certainly wasn't happy that Mino was sick, but she'd take a bone when the universe decided to throw her one.

It was just as well, too, because she was already starting to get super anxious about Friday's picnic. It also didn't help matters that added to that nervousness was the events that had happened with Kakashi. Again.

At least now she knew that he actually did want her in that way and she wasn't just imagining things. All in all, though, that was a very small comfort compared to how they'd actually left things between them.

She really disliked many aspects of her life at that moment.

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading!

Constructive and/or nice reviews are always welcome ^_^


	8. Good Company

**A/N:** So it hasn't been seven months! Yay!

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read and like and follow and review my story! You guys don't know it, but it really makes my day when I receive a nice message. Also, I'd like to extend a very heartfelt thank you to the lovely AnyyThingg, who agreed to beta my story, surely not knowing the mess they were getting into with my writing.

I also wanted to address a review that I received last story about the timing of this particular story. I'm, uh, not really sure myself lol! I know I want it set post-war, like in Naruto the manga, but I have a different picture in my head of how that all went down anyway. Maybe I'll write it one day! Also, I didn't like that Kakashi lost his sharingan so I decided to write as if he didn't.

P.S. I decided to change Sakura's father's name because in my story he's not her actual father.

Good Company

" _I wanna find me a better scene_

 _where it's not the same opinion._

 _Hanging out all by myself,_

 _at least I'm in good company_ "

The next day, Sakura spent getting ready for the picnic, mentally and physically. She got a haircut (it was getting a bit long) in her favorite style off a neat bob that framed her face. She went and received a full-body wax, and when she said full-body she meant full-body (she waddled around for about an hour or so after the wax).

Afterwards she perused the Konoha shops, looking for something appropriate and flattering to wear. She wanted to make sure her mother didn't have anything but the usual to criticize her about, which was why she was taking such great care with her appearance. Not even one hair out of place would be tolerated.

An hour into her wardrobe shopping, Sakura found what she thought was a cute, but modest dress. The dress had a flowery, lacy pattern about it in a nice summer yellow color and short sleeves. The neckline was a square one, and though the dress was form fitting, it suited her shape nicely and reached to just about her knees.

Before heading home, Sakura ran around the village, reminding her teammates of tomorrow and not to be late. She saved Kakashi for Naruto and asked him if he could remind Kakashi. Thankfully, Naruto hadn't asked why Sakura just didn't do it instead, and simply nodded in agreement. Sakura thought she'd try to give Kakashi space for the time being.

Sakura went home that day, exhausted, but prepared. She didn't even put that much effort into her appearance when she was going on a date.

She fell asleep that night, apprehensive about what would happen the following day.

…

Sakura was as ready as she was gonna get. She was showered, perfumed, makup-ed, and her newly cut hair was neatly clipped back on both sides of her face.

She took a deep breath and looked herself in the floor-length mirror one last time before nodding once to her reflection and stepping out of her bedroom. Halfway down her short hallway, a knock sounded at her door.

Huh, they were actually on time.

Sakura opened the door, pleasantly surprised to find all five men waiting in the neatest appearance she'd ever seen them in. Not one spot of orange could be spotted on Naruto and Sai decided to forego his weird half shirt thing.

Sakura grinned happily, studying their dark hued formal clothing. "Well, you guys sure do look handsome, if I do say so myself."

Yamato, Naruto, and Sai grinned, and she thought Kakashi did, too, but he wore his mask still and she only saw the fabric shift a bit. Sasuke smiled softly.

"You look great too, Sakura-chan," Naruto beamed and the others nodded along with his observation. "Hey, Sakura, we didn't think to bring anything, and I know it's kinda rude not to. Should we maybe stop on the way and get something.

Sakura was even more pleased, that Naruto remembered; his Hokage training was really paying off. Sakura shook her head and reached for the nearby coffee table, retrieving a bottle of wine. "I've got us covered. It's enough you guys agreed to come with me. Let's get going, hm?"

Sakura stepped out and locked her apartment door and then they all headed down the staircase and into a busy street.

Kakashi walked right next to her, so she heard him clearly when he asked, "So where do your parents live anyway?"

"It's kind of a ways away, which is why I asked you all to show so early."

There was silence within their group for a while again, besides the low-key drone of the bustling of the crowd. The long walk gave Sakura time to ruminate and become a nervous mess again.

What if her family was especially rude because she brought her teammates this time? What if they were even more super ridiculous, more so than any other year? AARRGGGG!

Sakura took another deep breath and kept walking. One step at a time.

They walked until reaching the northern most side of the village, where the wealthier district inhabited the large houses surrounding the area. Sakura stopped in front of a large wooden fence, with a matching archway framing the entrance adorning the Haruno clan symbol.

Naruto whistled, impressed as he arched his neck back to view the establishment. "Your parents sure are loaded."

"They own a business, Naruto, and a successful one at that, of course they have a lot of money," Sakura said, rubbing her thumb anxiously on the glass of the wine bottle she held.

Yamato, same look of awe on his face added, "You must always have money for what you need."

Sakura shook her head, "I don't ever see a penny of that money. My parents disinherited me when I wouldn't marry Tamaki. I don't mind though, I make enough myself and honestly, I wouldn't know what to do with all that extra money. It's kind of ridiculous, really."

"Oh," was all Yamato replied.

Another deep breath. "Okay, you guys ready? Let's go!"

The others started walking on ahead, but Sakura's feet were doing the weirdest thing and. Just. Wouldn't. Move.

The five men were halfway up the path before they realized Sakura wasn't with them. They turned and regraded her with puzzlement.

"What is it?" Naruto asked, brow furrowed in worry.

Sakura shook her head. "I'm coming!" she squeaked and forced her legs to move. Her heart pounded against her chest in a way that, in her professional opinion, wasn't very healthy.

She reached the boys once more and as she passed Kakashi, he quickly reached a hand over and brushed it past the back of her neck in a soothing gesture. Sakura knew, that that more than anything, calmed her more than she'd admit. She stood a little straighter.

Sakura lead the way again towards the front door, but before they reached it, she paused suddenly and turned swiftly, almost making the boys bump into her.

She held out her hands and blinked a few times. "Just-my mom's rude, okay? And my dad's even more so and I'm sorry in advance for the rest of my family, and don't pay attention to my sisters, either and—"

"Sakura!" Sasuke intervened, with a slightly louder voice. He was blinking at her with the same expression like the rest of them were, as if she had just asked to be the main protagonist in the Icha Icha installment. "It's _okay_ ," Sasuke stressed. "We get it."

"You see," Sakura laughed a tad hysterically, "I'm not sure you do—" Before she could finish, Kakashi had grabbed her shoulders and steered her around so she was facing the doorway again.

"We know you, Sakura," Kakashi reassured her, "No matter how your family acts, that's not going to change our opinion of you." He reached over and knocked on the door for her.

"Jeez, Sakura," Naruto said in a lowered voice, "I've never seen you this nervous."

"I know," Sakura squeaked again.

She felt Sai pat her shoulder consolingly. "Do not worry, Ugly. We can handle it."

As Sakura awaited her doom in the form of the double doors opening, she tried to heed their advice and FUCKING RELAX. Ohshitthedoorwasopening!

The door swung open to reveal her mother, Haruno Mebuki, holding a delicate glass of wine and already looking at Sakura judgmentally. She blinked green, chastising eyes at Sakura. It's probably worth noting that Sakura looks a lot like her mother—they had the same color hair and everything.

"Sakura," her mother said in an unapprovingly clipped tone, "you're late."

"Wha—no I'm not you said to be here at two and here I am," Sakura protested.

"Well, everyone else is already here," she retorted with pursed lips after her statement.

Not wanting to blow this into a full-blown argument, Sakura shut her mouth and handed over the wine. "Here, we brought this."

Her mother scrutinized the bottle, "Hm." She stepped further into the entryway, allowing for Sakura and the others to walk in.

As Sakura passed her mother, she scrutinized her appearance even more than she had the bottle's and remarked with a tone that underplayed pure insult even though her words were anything but. "Oh, honey, you're wearing that? Well, I guess it'll have to do."

Sakura reached for a glass of wine for herself that one of the ushers held on a polished tray and took a huge gulp. "And so it begins," she whispered under her breath. She caught a glimpse of Naruto looking to Sasuke with huge, unbelieving eyes.

She took another gulp.

Her mother finally turned to regard her teammates with a more pleasant expression. "You five must be Sakura's teammates. She finally brought you over to meet me after all these years, huh? You'd think she'd had a behemoth for a mother with the way she didn't want to introduce you five to me."

"Coulda' fooled me," Sakura muttered. Sai managed to turn his snort of laughter into a cough.

"What was that!" her mother snapped.

"Nothing, mom," Sakura replied sweetly. "Where's grand mama?"

"Oh! You and you grandmother," he mother huffed, irritated. "Always plotting against me. You can wait! Let your teammates introduce themselves to me first."

They did so, Naruto looking a bit frightened during, but he got through it nonetheless.

Once finished, her mother ushered them further down the grand hall, talking all the while. "We're back in the garden, if you just follow me. We have lots of food for you boys and you can meet our whole clan and a few of our friends, too. Just because we're not shinobi doesn't mean we don't know who you boys are! Oh, and Sakura, Tamaki is already here, so you can spend the evening with him, hm?"

"No," Sakura replied, tonelessly and immediately after her mother's sentence.

Her mother had the decency not to say anything, though she looked peeved.

"You look a lot like your—" Sasuke started in an undertone.

"I know," Sakura replied, frustrated, not with him, but with her mother.

Her mother lead them out into the spectacularly cultivated garden, teeming with pink-haired persons, who were within the immediate family, and brunettes who were more distant relatives, as well as a few acquaintances intermingling, too. They wandered between vibrant flowers in the peak of their summer bloom and neatly arranged stones in the form of a path that wound all around the large garden. Lantern lights hung from wires around the heads of the guests and Sakura knew that once the sun started setting, they would be lit and emit a soft glow. No matter that she had been miserable living here in her youth, the Haruno estate garden had always been one of her favorite places and probably always would be.

The first to spot them was an obnoxious aunt by the name of Kila. She called her name so loud that if Sakura wanted to make her presence as oblivious as possible that evening she was shit out of luck, because more than half of the guests turned to look at her with her aunt's call.

"OH MY, LITTLE SAKURA-CHAN! YOU HAVEN'T BEEN AROUND HERE IN AGES!" Kila screeched, rushing over, to Sakura's dismay. At least she got a tad less loud with her proximity. Sakura was met with a woman's overly perfumed, rotund shaped, ridiculously long, fake, fingernail-ed embrace. Kila stepped back and started jabbering to Sakura without an ounce of filter, "You know, I was telling Bon," Bon was her husband, "That I didn't think you were going to show on account of your issues with your mom and dad because you rejected dear Tamaki again, but here you are! Tell me you're reconsidering, dear, It would just make my day!"

Sakura plastered a smile on her face. "Aunt Kila, how's the bunion surgery going?"

Kila's mouth hung open and that's when Sakura made her escape, pushing a nonplussed Kakashi, Naruto, Sasuke, Sai, and Yamato in one collective group in a different direction.

"Dear Kami, save me," Sakura begged as she pushed.

When they were in a relatively clear area, Sakura stopped to catch her breath. A strange sound caught her ear and she turned to regard Naruto who she realized was bent over, laughing his ass off.

"Sakura-chan, you really weren't kidding, were you?" Tears streamed out from the corners of his eyes.

She saw Kakashi chuckling lightly, too with the others on the verge of complete hilarity and instead of being disheartened or affronted, Sakura felt hugely relieved.

The weight on her shoulders seemed to lessen considerably as she stared at them all. She grinned lightly. "I told you. And you haven't even seen the worst of them yet!"

"Sakura," said a cold voice behind her.

The temporary mirth and warmth seemed to be zapped from her with the sound of that voice. She tensed and turned, completely serious.

"Hello, father." She met the cold, light blue eyes of her father, Kira, with as steady gaze. He was often cruel and demeaning with his words, so she would show no weakness.

"It seems you have forgotten you manners with your time away," he said, stern, "you should have come to greet me straightaway as I hear you brought guests. Introduce them."

She really disliked him, but she did as he asked, introducing her five teammates who could sense her extreme discomfort. She felt Kakashi's hand on the small of her back, his arm's position hidden from view with the way they were standing. Sakura pushed back a little into his touch, needing the comfort.

"Hm," her father regarded the five men with a gaze like ice, "so you five are her teammates? Tell me, since my daughter decided to disregard her family's wishes and become a shinobi, is she at least an adequate one?"

"More than adequate, Sir," Kakashi replied, an angry clip to his voice, "In fact, she has already surpassed Hokage-sama in her healing abilities."

Her father's gaze zeroed in on Kakashi, since he spoke first, looking for a belittling response, no doubt. "Well, I suppose that is a small comfort, if one at all—"

"She's stronger than me, too," Naruto piqued.

"And me," added Sasuke.

"She's saved my life more than a couple of times," Yamato said.

"Mine also," Sai intoned.

She could have cried with how much she loved them all at that moment. They were the absolute best and no one could tell her any different.

Her father seemed even more disappointed as he turned to look at Sakura again. "I hear the most shameful rumors, Sakura, concerning you and your _acquaintances_. Kasumi informed me of one such rumor only last week as did one of your mother's close friends who was shopping at a flower shop at a certain time you seemed to burst in shouting. I am very disappointed. As I have told you before, you need to come back here and resume your duties to your family. Stop your gallivanting around the town, it's shameful."

My ass, Sakura thought, but she responded a bit more respectfully. "What Kasumi doesn't know could fill a stadium, so I wouldn't put too much credit on her knowledge and observations. And I'm not doing anything wrong, so, no, I won't be coming back."

"Manners, Sakura!" her father reprimanded, lips drawn into one thin, angry line. "I have tolerated your—"

WHACK!

Everyone blinked, startled as a cane appeared behind her father and smacked him none too gently on the side. A very old woman with the palest of pink hair made her way around her father, who looked absolutely livid.

"Move over, Kira!" her grandmother barked. "Go spout your innateness somewhere else and let me say hello to my favorite granddaughter."

Her father stood for a moment while her grandmother stared expectantly at him and he stormed off into the crowd. Her grandmother turned back around with a toothy grin.

"Grand mama!" Sakura exclaimed, throwing her arms around her hunched grandmother, who hugged her back eagerly. Sakura gave her a quick peck on the cheek before withdrawing.

"I hobbled over here as fast as I could, my dear, to save you from him, but I'm not as agile as I once was. You look beautiful, Sakura dear. I'm glad you came," she patted Sakura gently on the cheek.

"Grand mama, you're the best!"

"Oh honey," Her grandmother patted her hand, then slid her arm through the crook of Sakura's and tugged her along. "Come, let's sit and you can introduce me to your handsome friends. I can't stand for very long, dear, I get tired, you see?"

Sakura followed after her grandmother gesturing with her free arm for the others to follow.

She followed her grandmother over to a more secluded area of the garden and helped her sit on a lawn chair. Everyone gathered around her grandmother.

Sakura started off by introducing the boys, who all bowed respectfully to her grandmamma when introduced.

When she had finished her grandmother, she pointed at Sasuke and said without any shyness, "If I had been fifty years younger, he would have been your grandfather, Sakura."

Sakura spluttered, cheeks heating. "Grandma!"

Sakura's embarrassment, though, was nothing compared to Sasuke's—he stood with his cheeks flaming while the other boys snickered and nudged him suggestively with waggling eyebrows.

Her grand mama waved a leathery hand and said, "Oh, it's a compliment—don't take it so seriously, boy! Now, why don't you all go get drinks and bring one back for us ladies, hm?" They did as she asked and obediently set off.

Sakura shook her head at her grandmother's tact and went to sit next to her.

She grabbed Sakura's hand again once she had gotten settled and patted it gently. "Don't worry about your mother, dear, she has a stick up her ass that she shares with your father. They don't know how to be happy, and when they see that you, dear, are completely happy with yourself, they get envious and try to control your happiness."

Sakura smiled warmly and responded, "While that first part is kind of a gross picture, Grand mama, you always know what to say to make me feel better." Sakura leaned over and pecked her on the cheek again, than rested her head on her grandmother's shoulder, wishing she could spend the evening as she was at that moment—warm and content.

Soon, a sparking glass of champagne was handed to her by Kakashi. She smiled in thanks, feeling less nervous for the time being.

Then…

Sakura counted. "One of you is missing." Only four had come back. "Where's Sai?"

The others looked around, searching for Sai through the crowd. Naruto intoned, "He was just behind us. Where could he have gone?"

And that was how one of the most hilarious nights of her life really began…

Sakura kissed her grandmother on the cheek again, telling her she could come see her before she left and dove into the crowd, intent on finding Sai. At first, the other four men trailed behind her, but within the next minute when Sakura had turned back to check on them again, they all had disappeared, like Sai.

Sakura stood in the middle of a crowd of her relatives, shrugged, and wished them luck.

A little while later, Sakura ran into her second sister, Kitty.

Sakura would admit that her youngest step sister wasn't as bad a Kasumi, but she was more annoying. The girl was just vapid and ditzy beyond fault. Though, Sakura still held out hope for Kitty, because she believed that with a bit of encouragement in the right direction, Kitty could really get somewhere. It was a shame, though, that Kitty mostly followed the example Kasumi set.

Kitty had a similar build to Kasumi and they shared the same shade of strawberry blonde hair, though, while Kasumi's eyes were a cold blue, Kitty's were a dark brown.

Kitty giggled (her favorite pastime) when she ran into Sakura. "Sak!" Sakura hated it when she called her that, and she knew Kitty did it on purpose. When she said her name like that, it sounded like "sack". "Oh my Kami, Sak, I just met one of your teammates, he's so cute! You know, the pale one—with dark hair!"

Well, that could either be Sasuke or Sai, poor them.

"He's kind of rude," —still could be Sasuke or Sai—"though. He told me I shouldn't yell so much," Kitty scrunched her pointed nose, but her expression cleared just as fast. "He's still really cute, though! He's kinda weird, too, cause he just walked off saying something about the social behaviors of teenage girls being confusing and blah, blah, blah."

Sai it was then.

Kitty took a huge gulp of a glass of champagne Sakura had only now noticed she was holding, and Sakura realized that she probably was more than just tipsy, making her personality that much more grating on the nerves. Sakura snatched the glass from Kitty and downed the rest of it in on swift swallow.

"Kitty!" Sakura chastised. "Last time I checked you're still only fifteen. And stay away from my teammates lest they file a sexual harassment charge on you."

Kitty pouted in dismay, staring at the empty glass. "Aww, Sak, you're no fun!" Without further words, she stuck out her tongue and flitted back into the crowd.

Sakura rolled her eyes and started wading her way through the crowd again.

As the evening progressed and turned into night, Sakura collected a number of memories of which she could never pick her favorite. She knew that bringing her teammates to meet her family would be an experience, but she couldn't imagine just how _substantial_ of an experience it would be.

The first one she walked by was Sasuke, who was surprisingly surrounded by a bunch of open-mouthed kids. As Sakura walked closer to him in case he needed help escaping, she caught a bit of what he was saying and realized that the kids were probably the ones in need of rescue.

"…and I killed him with this knife," Sasuke suddenly whipped out a wickedly sharp knife from goodness knew where and showed it to the awed children. "No one bothered me after that." One of the children—apparently not so awed and more terrified by the foreboding shinobi—screamed shrilly and ran off while wetting his pants.

Sakura just quietly walked away.

She happened to encounter Kakashi next, standing with a group of her relatives and family friends. Sakura stood back for a moment, admiring how his backside looked in those nice black dress pants, before actually catching onto what he was saying. Apparently, he had concocted a huge (and fake she might add) backstory on why he wore his mask. The people surrounding him were hanging on to his every word.

"…So the princess of that land fell so head over heels in love with my good looks that she demanded I marry her. I didn't really want to you see, and I told her as much, but she just wouldn't have it and declared that if I didn't marry her, then I would never marry anyone. So one night, I ran away and changed my name and that's why I always wear my mask…"

Sakura snorted at that one as she passed. Kakashi heard her and turned quickly to grin at her before going on with his story.

Naruto was never hard to spot in a crowd. Sometime later, Sakura found him by his loud voice.

"…Yeah, you wanna see him?!" Naruto shouted a few paces away from her before a giant toad appeared in the middle of the yard. Some people spilled drinks over themselves, with ridiculous expressions adorning their faces, while others just tripped and landed on the floor with their surprise. In the next second though, Gamakichi was gone.

Sakura giggled.

She found Yamato next to a felled tree that Gamakichi had knocked over with his sudden appearance, while their family's gardener, Kimichi , stood with him, distraught.

Yamato rubbed his chin, assessing the damage. He nodded once and placed a hand on the trunk of the tree, and with small effort, the tree was upright again and good as new.

Kimichi looked like he wanted to cry and maybe marry Yamato, what with the wide, open-mouthed awe he regarded him with. Some people standing around the general area clapped, much to a smug Yamato's satisfaction.

Sakura grinned while looking on.

Her favorite part of the night, though, would absolutely be what had happened next.

Her mother had found her again and corralled her into a group of her immediate family. Sakura spotted Tamaki across from her, who, once he noticed her stare, grimaced at her in an apologetic way.

Her aunt Kila had joined the fray, as well as her husband, Bon. Her uncle from her mother's side was there, being the huge jerk as he always was. Mrs. Komamura, the woman who had heard her shout in Ino's shop, had also joined the melee, with her husband, Mr. Komamura who was looking at Sakura with a slimy look, as if he were undressing her with his eyes. Sakura glared at him.

Some of her older cousins were there, too, as well as a smug Kasumi, joining the brouhaha that was The Roasting of Haruno Sakura.

"…And dear Tamaki here is just waiting for Sakura to be ready, goodness knows when that's going to be, hAhaAha," her mother continued, ending her sentence with her fake laugh.

Tamaki should his head, looking as uncomfortable as a cow in a slaughterhouse. "Ah, no, actually, Haruno-san. I'm really not waiting for anyone at—" Tamaki started politely, before being cut off by her mother.

"Oh, don't be modest, dear, hAhAaha," she said, patting him firmly on the shoulder.

Mr. Komamura scooted closer to Sakura. Sakura scooted further away.

"Yes," Mrs. Komamura interjected with a sniffy air about her, "I've always said any girl Sakura's age should be well and married with a couple of children and not dallying about, spewing nonsense in public settings—"

"No," Sakura said loudly, but everyone ignored her. Sakura wondered what would happen if she just went and yanked on Mrs. Komamura's nice tight bun that rested oh so temptingly atop her head.

Mrs. Komamura kept talking, "And Sakura shouldn't be any different, especially when she has a nice young handsome man—"

Sakura started as a figure pushed his way in between herself and Mr. Komamura, pushing him somewhat into his wife who was still jabbering on until another voice interrupted loudly.

"Relationships, as I have experienced them, are difficult," Sai intoned, without a bit of shyness, which, when Sakura thought about it, probably wasn't an emotion Sai possessed. He kept talking, while everyone blinked at him in astonishment, "For example, in my first relationship, and the first time I was intimate with said woman—with any woman as a matter of fact—, I found her very forceful. She used to tie me with various objects—"

Sakura covered her mouth to hide her grin.

"—and manhandle me—mostly with whips. I quite liked it, though—"

She hid her face behind Sai's shoulder and tried to pass off her burst of laughter as a cough. Oh no, she was going to lose it.

"—and she was always shouting at me—"

Sakura's shoulders started shaking.

"—apparently she quite liked leather, too, because she wore so much of it all the time—"

She knew her face was red from holding in her laughter. Tamaki looked worryingly at her and mouthed, "are you okay?". Sakura just shook her head.

"—she called herself "Kill"," Sai finished.

That last part did it for Sakura.

She exploded in laughter, doubling over and clutching her stomach as it cramped from the mirth. She caught glimpses of her families' flabbergasted looks through the tears in her eyes, which just made the laughs start all over again.

When she caught her breath a bit and looked around again, she saw Tamaki pretending to sip from his glass and trying to hide a huge grin.

"Do not worry, Sakura," Sai said, patting her shoulder consolingly, a knowing mischievous look in his eyes, "I'm sure you will find someone like her one day."

"One can only hope," Sakura responded, still breathless from her previous bout of hilarity. "Come on, Sai," Sakura said, hooking her arm through Sai's, "let's go over there. I think my mom's about to have a heart attack."

"Alright," Sai simply acquiesced.

Sakura lead Sai over to her grandmother, giggling all the way, who was sitting in a quieter section of the garden. "Here, Grand mama," Sakura said when she reached her grandmother, "take care of Sai and don't let him go anywhere else. I think his job is done for the night. Sai, sit next to Grandmamma and tell her that story you just told everyone else—I think she'll actually appreciate it."

"You're pretty handsome there, too, son," her grandmother said cheekily, while patting the seat next to her, "you can sit next to me."

"Why, thank you, ma'am," Sai responded politely, sitting.

Sakura bent over and kissed her grandmother on her cheek again. "That's in case I don't see you again tonight, Grand mama. I'll try to come visit as soon as possible, okay?"

"I know, dear," her grandmother responded, smiling, "I love you.

"Love you, too, Grand mama." Sakura said to Sai next, "I'm going to try and find everyone. Meet us out side in fifteen?" Sai nodded and Sakura went in search of everyone else.

…

Some of Sakura's relatives sure were gullible, Kakashi thought as he finished telling the story of his mask to another group of people. They stared at him astonished, looking as if they would give anything to see behind his mask.

He really wanted to laugh, but resisted and politely excused himself, thinking it was time to go find Sakura.

"Psst, you boy!" somebody called in a loud voice.

Kakashi looked around and found Sakura's pink-haired grandmother gesturing to him to come over. He did as she asked, curious as to what she wanted…and a little nervous.

"Hatake, right?" she asked when he reached her.

Kakashi nodded. "You may call me Kakashi, ma'am."

The old woman nodded. She pierced Kakashi with her gave, scrutinizing him for Kami only knew what, making him shift nervously.

She finally looked away and said, "My Sakura is beautiful, is she not?"

Kakashi nodded, smiling fondly. "Yes, ma'am, and smart too."

The old woman nodded. "Yes, yes. A woman like my granddaughter, it's any wonder she's still single. Tell me, Kakashi-san, are you a hard-working man?"

"Ah," what was she getting at?, "Yes, I'd like to think so, ma'am."

"Are you in any way, offended by strong women?"

"No."

"Do you have a stable income?"

"Yes."

"A nice home?"

"Ah, well, it's alright."

"Do you care about my granddaughter?"

"Yes." That last answer came out immediately.

Sakura's grandmother looked triumphant, as if she'd just struck gold. "Well then, what are you waiting for? Go on! I quite like you, Hatake—you're the type of person that someone only needs to meet once to know their character. It does help, though, that my Sakura talks about you when she comes to visit me—more than the other men in her life, if you know what I mean, boy. I think you'd be good for her and she for you."

Kakashi stood, stymied, at the woman's advice. How did she know?

"It's the way she looks at you, and you at her," Sakura's grandmother said softly. "I know Sakura very well, so I'm probably the only one who can see it right now. You have found something good, Kakashi-san, I suggest you try and hold onto it." And without another word, the old woman hobbled away, leaving Kakashi blinking and not quite knowing what to do.

Deciding that right then was not the time to ponder on her words, Kakashi shook his head and resumed his search for Sakura, feeling strangely lighter.

He started his search by looking around the softly lit garden, and when he couldn't locate her, he searched for her chakra signature. At last he felt a familiar sensation of soft, calming chakra and followed the aura until he was inside the grand house again. He followed a hall that seemed to be leading to a kitchen. As he approached, Kakashi heard voices talking and, almost to the kitchen, he realized the voices were agitated and arguing. He stopped abruptly, not wanting to interrupt before he actually realized who the voices belonged to.

"—don't start, mother," he heard Sakura say, voice tense, "Can't you just for once be happy to see me and happy that I'm doing well and leave it at that?"

"Your mother is right, Sakura," Kakashi heard Sakura's father's cold voice, "you have grown even more intolerable since the last time we saw you. I should have locked you in this house instead of letting you leave—"

"Intolerable? Because I won't marry the man that you want me to, so you can fill your pockets even more with money that you don't need—"

"Sakura, stay silent!" Sakura's mother snipped. "It's a shame that the day came that you don't have any respect for your parents anymore and do as we will."

"It is no wonder," her father said, in a low dangerous voice, "with the company you keep. Those boys you call your teammates are scoundrels—"

"That's enough!" Sakura snapped voice louder, "I may let you insult me and my choices, but you leave them out of this! They have been more of a family to me than you or all those people standing in the garden have ever been! All you do is criticize and belittle me with every step I take! I don't even know why I came today—"

"Well, we won't worry about that anymore, because from now on, you are not to set foot inside this house or go near it. I no longer recognize you as my daughter and your mother will do the same," he finished and though Kakashi could not see him, he heard the sneer in his voice.

Damn not interrupting, Kakashi had heard enough.

He stepped silently into the kitchen and walked straight for Sakura. She looked up at him as he approached, face closed off to any emotion, but eyes glassy.

"Come on, Sakura," Kakashi said loudly, pushing himself between her and her parents. He put a gentle hand on her arm and started steering her towards the exit. "I think everyone's already waiting outside for us." He called back to the two people behind him. Sakura's mother seemed torn, looking at her daughter leave with indecision. Kakashi called back, "Thanks for inviting us! We had a lovely time."

They left the kitchen and as they were walking down the dimly lit hall, Kakashi asked a silent Sakura, "Are you alright?"

Sakura sighed and disengaged her arm from his grip. "I'm fine. I'm sorry you heard that."

"Hey, I've heard worse. I just didn't like how they were talking to you."

Sakura snorted half-heartedly. "That's usually how our conversations go, by the way. I don't even let it get to me anymore—it's not worth it."

Kakashi touched her arm, stopping their path towards the front door. "Still, I'm sorry your parents are that way."

Sakura stared at him through the dim lighting and smiled. "Thanks for coming to get me, Kakashi. I owe you one."

Kakashi smiled back and shrugged and started walking again. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'll be there when you need me."

It took Sakura a second longer to follow him, but when she was beside him again, she looped her arm through his and held on tightly.

"We should probably go look for the others," Kakashi suggested, liking how close she was and her familiar scent that was so sweet.

Sakura shook her head. "That's what I was doing before my parents cornered me in the kitchen—they should all be waiting outside by the front door now."

Kakashi almost sighed in relief at that; he wasn't sure that he was actually brave enough to go back into the crowd to look for the rest of them.

They walked in silence down the echoing halls until they reached the front door, where regretfully, Sakura pulled her arm back, leaving him strangely bereft.

…

Sakura pushed one of the double doors open and was greeted by cool night air. She breathed in deeply and found the four other boys sitting on the front steps, awaiting their appearance.

"Sakura, you found Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, getting to his feet.

The others followed suit.

"Well, he kinda found me, but never mind that. Are you guys ready to go home?" she asked.

"More than ready," Yamato said, stretching.

"Yes," Sasuke said, "no offense, Sakura, but your family is exhausting."

Sakura sighed in dejection, knowing her family was impossible. "Yeah." Was all she replied.

They started off down the paved walkway until they reached the main road that was dotted every now and then with softly glowing lanterns.

Sakura walked, enjoying the fresh air on her face and through her hair. After everything, she felt oddly…calm. Maybe she'd actually figured out how to not let her overbearing parents get to her…now if she could only figure out what method that actually was and then she'd be just damn peachy.

She turned her gaze to the backs of her four teammates and smiled. Kakashi walked next to her and occasionally brushed her arm with his. She wished she could loop her arm through his again but she figured that that would make him uncomfortable with everyone else around.

"Thanks for coming with me, guys. I really appreciate it."

"Yeah, no problem, Sakura-chan," Naruto grinned. "It was some night though."

"One of your cousins tried to feel me up," Sasuke informed, mouth twisted in a distasted expression.

Sakura giggled. "Sorry. At least you didn't lose your virginity to a dominatrix, huh, Sai?"

Sai nodded solemnly. "Quite."

"Wait, what?!" Naruto exclaimed. "How do you know that?"

Sakura was laughing again. She explained through breathy, choppy words, "Be-because he told half my family, including me."

Sai looked on, completely unimpressed, as Naruto roared with laughter, Yamato doubled-over with hilarity, and Sasuke's shoulders shook with laughter.

Sakura heard Kakashi struggling to maintain composure next to her, probably for Sai's sake; he cleared his throat several times and his breathing became shallower and shallower as he tried to breathe normally through his mirth.

Sakura, still giggling, asked, "Was it true or did you just make it up to get my family off my back?"

Sai shook his head. "No, it is all true."

Naruto wheezed, running out of air, and Yamato placed a hand on his back for support as his face reddened and he bent even further. Kakashi finally gave in and laughed as quietly as possible.

Even though she was still grinning, Sakura chastised them, "Poor, Sai. Stop laughing!"

They ignored her, of course.

After Naruto clamed and his wheezing stopped, he stood straight again and said with a chuckling undertone, "I don't know, I think what's more surprising is that Sakura's grandmother has the hots for Sasuke."

"Oh that's right," Sakura grinned, then got serious, "Sasuke, I give you my blessing."

Everyone started laughing again, while Sasuke sobered and stared off in a different direction with a stony expression.

"She will make you a fine wife," Sai said, a glint of revenge in the back of his eyes.

Sasuke stalked off leaving them behind.

"Oh, come on," Sakura called after him, hurrying to catch him, "we were just joking!"

Naruto reached Sasuke before she did, though, and gave him a good whop on the back of his head and then ran ahead, still laughing. Sasuke got That Look in his eyes and ran after him, probably already planning ten different ways to make Naruto pay.

Sakura stopped, not wishing to inadvertently become a part of one of their Prank Wars again. She almost shuddered when she remembered how merciless they were when they were younger and how ghastly their pranks used to be.

Naruto and Sasuke ran the length of the building and used chakra to climb to the roofs. Sasuke was still giving a determined chase and before they disappeared among the other buildings, Naruto called back, "We'll see you guys later!"

Sakura shook her head, watching them behave like children and, any bad trace that evening had left lingering, leaving and disappeared as warmth enveloped her from head to toes.

They had reached the normal side of town now and when they reached a certain street, Yamato waved a good bye, "My place is this way. I really did have a good time, Sakura."

Sakura waved a farewell back.

Sai left them a little while later, saying goodnight.

"Goodnight, Sai," Sakura replied, and then, because she couldn't help herself, "don't let the handcuffs get too tight."

Amazingly, Sai, winked at her and then loped off, disappearing behind a turn in the street.

She turned to find Kakashi grinning behind his mask. She smiled easily back and because it was late and hardly anybody was around, she hooked her arm through his again and rested her head on his arm as they started walking. He pulled her a little closer and Sakura pretended for a moment that maybe it was on purpose and not just a result of the way they walked.

Sakura couldn't figure out how to tell him, but she really appreciated that he had intervened with her parents earlier. She didn't need anyone to save her, but damn was it nice when someone was standing next to her—especially Kakashi.

She was thinking of how only moments from then, they would reach his apartment and she would have to say goodnight to him too. She didn't want to, not yet.

"Kakashi?" she asked softly.

"Hm?" he replied in a low gentle voice.

"Will you take me on a date?"

She felt him stiffen slightly against her cheek, but she only held on tighter.

"Right now?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura nodded, already waiting for his rejection. "I'm hungry. I didn't really eat anything back there." She wasn't even lying—she'd been too preoccupied with everything else to actually eat anything.

He stayed quiet for longer than appropriate, but finally answered, "Well, I can't very well let you go hungry, can I?"

Surprised, Sakura nudged her head to look at him and found him smiling softly.

She hid her own goofy smile, and blush by looking back down quickly.

"Where would you like to go?" he politely asked.

She tells him of a place that is open all night and serves the best dango she has ever tasted and they set off.

It was just like before.

They sat. They talked about everything and nothing, like two old friends after a long-awaited reunion. He listened to everything she had to say, really listened, and she did the same in turn. It all felt very…right.

Sakura hadn't realized how much she'd missed Kakashi until that moment. She firmly decided that she wouldn't ever let him avoid her for so long, no matter what.

When they were ready to leave, Kakashi even paid, making it an official date. She wondered if all those other times counted from before when he'd paid too. She decided they did.

They walked together through the quiet streets of Konoha, with its inhabitants sleeping, making Sakura feel as if they were the only two awake in the whole world.

They reached Kakashi's apartment first because it was the closest from the restaurant and Kakashi paused turning to look at her. He had lowered his mask.

He said nothing and stared at her with a pondering expression.

Sakura knew she was treading on dangerous waters, but she said it anyway, "Well aren't you going to invite me inside?"

Kakashi's mouth quirked to the side in amusement. "I usually don't invite my date inside on the first date. I do have some class, after all."

"Bullshit." Sakura retorted and he actually laughed.

"Fine, you caught me. Would you like to come inside, Sakura?"

Satisfied, Sakura replied, "Yes, I would."

Sakura knew what was going to happen then—maybe she'd known all day—and so she followed him as they climbed the stairs together.

…

 **A/N:** I wrote in two allusions to two of my favorite things in this chapter. One is from a song from my favorite band and another is from one of my favorite books. If anyone can guess them, I will give them a virtually tubular high-five!

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter because it was really fun to write! I am starting on my finals from school, but after they're over, I'll have a short break (I'm taking summer classes, _uuuugh_ ) and I'm hoping I'll be inspired to write a ton more!

Constructive and/or nice reviews are always appreciated (^_^)


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